


Against All Odds

by astrolady



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Din Djarin - Freeform, Din Djarin Needs a Hug, Din Djarin/Original Character(s) - Freeform, Enemies to Friends, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Porn, Eventual Smut, F/M, I promise this will be good, Mandalorian, Original Character(s), Porn With Plot, Sexual Content, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn, Smut, Star Wars - Freeform, Strong Language, Swearing, Touch-Starved Din Djarin, eventual NSFW, lots of development, the mandalorian - Freeform, they really don't like each other at first
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-16 01:14:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 81,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28573593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astrolady/pseuds/astrolady
Summary: Din Djarin has lost everything. Grogu has been taken away from him to train with the Jedi, his ship has been reduced to ashes, and the Mandalorians that he had known for his entire life are gone. He is all alone.While taking a job on Tatooine, Din gets involved with another bounty hunter (from whose perspective the story is told) and is forced to work with her against both their wills. At first, the distaste and distrust the two have for one other is overwhelming, putting them in dangerous and tense situations. Eventually, however, they realize that maybe they don't hate each other as much as they think they do.Hell, they might even really like each other.
Relationships: Din Djarin & Original Character(s), Din Djarin & Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 41
Kudos: 68





	1. Chapter 1

**1**

* * *

This isn’t the first time I’m seeing him in the cantina.

My eyes follow the hulking man as he walks into the room, the chatter quieting down almost immediately. His presence ignites a tension that permeates the space, all gazes on him, all creatures wary of his actions. 

He stands still for a moment, turning his head slowly. The dull light of the cantina reflects perfectly off his Beskar armour, which I can only imagine how much will sell for on the market if I can somehow get it off him.

The thought is amusing and fleeting, though. I know better; from what I've heard, a Mandalorian’s armour is next to impossible to obtain, unless you’re prying it off their dead body.

Finally, the man turns and takes a step forward in my direction. I tense slightly, watching as he strolls across the room, completely unreadable. Staring at his dark visor, I sit still in my booth as he passes by, paying me no attention. 

My body relaxes. Even though the Mandalorian has no quarrel with me, his intimidating nature causes my heart to pound and nerves spike, an effect I’m sure he has on everybody he meets. He must be used to people gawking at him everywhere he goes and backing off just at the sight of him. 

I twist in my seat, watching as he sits down in a chair a few booths down across from a Rodian. Staring blindly for a few seconds, I wonder what brings a warrior like him to Tatooine, and so often, too. 

_He’s probably a bounty hunter, as well. Not much to do for someone like him these days. Not many wars to fight in._

I quickly turn back to my table and grab the dark helmet that rests there, clean and shiny from the recent polish I gave it. I hastily secure it on my head and tap a button on the side, my dull view of the cantina immediately brightening and filling with all kinds of information.

Zooming into the Mandalorian and his friend, I simultaneously power up the enhanced audio tool I managed to install not too long ago. It has proved to be extremely useful so far in my adventures chasing after all kinds of criminals.

Almost instantly, the Mandalorian’s filtered voice muttering a hello to the Rodian is flowing through my ears, and I’m slightly taken aback by how it sounds. I’m not sure what I expected. Maybe I expected nothing at all. I’ve never actually heard one speak before. As far as I know, they're just like anybody else, but deadly.

_“Nice to finally meet you, Mandalorian. Peli Motto told me you would be arriving soon.”_

_“She said she would get me a job from you. A dangerous one, but highly profitable.”_

_“Indeed.”_

I shift my gaze to the Rodian, information about him appearing on the side. His name is Nhiff Reyti, and he’s been supplying bounty hunters with work on Tatooine for years now. I recognize him, actually. He's in the Guild, and although I've never taken work from him, I know he's quite popular among bounty hunters.

 _“What’s the job?”_ the Mandalorian asks, leaning forward slightly with his elbows on the table.

 _“There’s a group of pirates that recently attacked a series of homes on the edge of Mos Eisley. One of the said pirates is a fugitive that has been running from the law for many years. His name is Dree Vinii. I will pay you 50,000 credits if you can bring him back. Alive. You-”_ _  
_

My jaw would be on the floor from hearing the amount of money the Mandalorian was going to receive for the job if it wasn’t already hanging from the description of the job itself.

I tear my helmet off my head, the words of the Rodian cutting off. I quickly gather all my things, my blood boiling. There has to be some sort of mistake, and I’m not about to let somebody else take the job that was assigned to me, and me only. For more than double the credits, as well. 

I get up from my chair, stuffing my helmet under my arm, and in a few strides I am standing before their table. The Rodian’s words stop abruptly as they both look up at me. I catch the Mandalorian’s hand drifting slowly to the blaster at his side, ready for anything. 

Turning to the Rodian, I glare at him and say, “I overheard your conversation. The job you just described is _mine._ It was already given to me by Jass Nim just a few hours ago.”

The Rodian seems to calm down, his shoulders bouncing softly from laughter. “Young girl, he has not told you yet? The second I got word from Peli Motto that a Mandalorian will be looking for work on Tatooine, I made sure every single person in the Guild knew that the job involving Vinii was taken by him. He is perfect for it.”

I can’t believe what I’m hearing. I know my face is flushed, preventing me from looking straight at the Mandalorian, whose gaze I can feel on me, watching my every move. My stomach churns, nerves and anger rushing through me all at once. 

“But _I_ got it first. I am perfectly capable of taking down a measly band of pirates. I’ve dealt with dangerous criminals before.”

Nhiff shrugs, his large, starry eyes boring into mine. “There is nothing I can do for you, Andromeda.”

I wince at the mention of my full name. “It’s Andi. And this is extremely disrespectful on your behalf. After working in the Guild for years, proving my worth as a bounty hunter, this is what I get."

“If you want, I can get you some work for a couple hundred credits elsewhere, there’s always-”

“No,” I state sternly, frustrated. Taking a long, deep breath, I rest my hands on my hips, thinking.

An idea comes to me, one so absurd in my mind that I almost shut it down immediately. However, I know it’s most likely the only way I’m going to keep the job, the only way I can receive lots of credits at once like I was planning. Before I can change my mind, I turn my body and face the Mandalorian, who is clearly ready to get up and start shooting whoever threatened him at any moment.

A small wave of fear spreads over me, his hard stare entrapping everything. The gaze unnerves me, leaving me feeling as though I am petrified, as though under his watch, I am unable to do anything.

It’s the strangest feeling to be mere inches away from the man I have only seen a few times before but had watched every single one of those times, analyzing and studying him. 

“Mandalorian,” I start, hoping he isn’t as cold-blooded as he seems, as I've made him out to be. “I propose to you that we take down the pirates together and split the 50,000 credits equally.”

He continues watching me for a few seconds after I finish. I keep my head up as best as I can and my back straight, looking through the helmet where his eyes should be. The absolute lack of any emotion is what puts me on edge. There is no telling what he is thinking. He can shoot me in a second and would not give any indication of doing so beforehand. I swallow a lump in my throat and wait patiently.

Finally, he stands up, causing me to take a few steps back.

"You want to work with me?"

I shift from foot to foot, having to crane my head up to look at him, which exasperates me further. "Yes. This was my job before you took it, and if the Guild wants you to take care of it, fine. But I'm helping and we're splitting the reward. I hope you can understand me here."

He crosses his arms, releasing a deep sigh. He is so close to me, closer than I've ever been to him or any other Mandalorian. I can see all the little scrapes and tiny dents in his Beskar, the material of the fabric wrapped around him, the symbol of an animal engraved in his right shoulder piece. It's quite something, to be standing next to someone who is supposedly a great warrior, and even more terrifying to be waiting to see if he has any decency.

After several minutes, he reaches out his right hand to me. It hangs in the air for a moment before I realize I have to take it, his gloves feeling rough around my bare skin. 

“It’s a deal, then. 25,000 credits each,” he says, and I manage a small smile.

I give him a firm nod, shaking his hand. A sense of relief passes over me, but I can't help but wonder whether or not what I am about to do is really worth it.


	2. Chapter 2

**2**

* * *

“The job is easy enough,” I say as we exit the cantina, squinting from the sharp light. The searing heat of the two suns floods over me instantly, but I’ve been on Tatooine for long enough that I’m used to it by now. I unzip my jacket and tie it around my waist, letting the light sleeves bounce against my legs as I walk and the heat caress my bare arms. I glance back at the Mandalorian, now my partner, whose dark clothing looks like the most uncomfortable thing anyone could wear on this planet. “Are you not dying of heat under there?”

“I’m fine. Just tell me about the mission.”

“Okay then,” I say, turning my back on him. “What a ray of sunshine you are to be around.” I regret it immediately, knowing he can easily take me down if he really wanted to. I know I should watch my mouth, and I almost apologize, but the lack of a response from him stops me. Maybe he isn’t as ruthless as they say. 

I reach into the pocket of my pants and pull out a small circular device. With a push of a button on the side, a hologram pops up and I stop walking.

“So, look.” I use a finger to swipe across a map of this area of Tatooine. “We’re here right now. Mos Eisley. About 20 klicks North, somewhere here, is an old home, right on the edge of a cliff. It used to belong to someone wealthy, but after they abandoned it, the pirates took over and are now using it as their base. All we have to do is break in and eliminate everyone but Dree Vinii.” I push another button on the side, and the map is replaced with a floating image of a humanoid figure, its skin covered in what looks like rough scales and a wide, devious smile stretching from one side of the face to the other. Most notably, though, is the missing top half of his left ear.

I turn off the hologram once the Mandalorian gets a good look at it and put it away, continuing to dodge creatures as I make my way to the hangar bay. 

“It’s not going to be that simple, you know,” he says, trailing close behind me.

“Maybe for you, but I can handle it easily. If you don’t want to participate, you can always back out.”

“I’m just saying they’re probably going to have a lot of security around, and-”

“And we’ll get past it no problem. As long as you don’t get in my way.”

“That’s funny. I was going to say the same to you, Andromeda."

“It’s Andi,” I say with a scowl and quicken my pace towards the hangar bay, already regretting my decision to bring him along.

_I should have left the cantina without saying anything and completed the job before he could even get there._

The shade engulfs me as I step under the ceilings of the building, and quickly maneuver to the hangar bay that holds my anti-slaver gunship, _The Casstian_. I smile as I jog up to it and drag my hand across the outer wall, admiring the smooth exterior of the metal from the recent repairs I was able to afford. The streaks of blue on the sides are holding up as well, which is good because the subtle design detail gives _The Casstian_ a certain special look that I adore, and it distinguishes her from every other ship.

“Hi, beautiful,” I whisper as I enter the passcode on a panel beside the door.

I look over my shoulder and see the Mandalorian standing still, staring up at the ship. In awe, surprise, fear, I have no fucking clue. His shoulders are slightly slumped as he examines my ship, not saying a word, and for a brief moment, he does not look all that menacing anymore. 

The door hisses open and the ramp lowers. “Hey!” I call. “You alright there?”

It takes him a moment, but he finally straightens up and forces his legs to move again, the vulnerability I’m sure I saw gone in an instant. “Yeah.”

“What’s wrong? Never seen a ship before?” I say with a smirk, testing the boundaries with a joke.

“No. It reminds me of my old ship. It...just got destroyed, recently.”

I feel a twinge of guilt, but I’m sure a tough man like him who comes from a race of warriors can handle it. “Sorry to hear that.”

Without another word, I board the ship and head straight for the cockpit, leaving the Mandalorian to examine my collection of trinkets and souvenirs I've picked up on my hunts, all displayed in the hull. I smile to myself, finding the thought of impressing him even a little bit satisfying.

_Maybe now he’s going to take me seriously._

Collapsing into the pilot’s chair, I feel a sense of relief and safety as I take a deep breath and sink into the soft material. Nothing beats being here, content and peaceful within the walls of my own ship, able to go everywhere and do anything. I run my hands across the armrests, the familiar feeling of worn leather under my fingertips calming me.

The feeling of tranquillity doesn’t last long, however, as the Mandalorian’s heavy footsteps come up into the cockpit behind me. 

I clear my throat and fire up the engines, listening to the escalating whine that I know all too well and love. “There’s a long, flat space behind the mountain where their base is located. I’ll land the ship somewhere there and we’ll climb up the mountain.”

He sits down in the passenger seat across from me, looking at all of the controls in front of him. “So, we’ll be coming up from behind.”

“Exactly.”

“Okay. Just make sure to land far enough away so that they don’t spot us. We don’t know what kind of technology they have or how heavily guarded the base is.”

I roll my eyes as _The Casstian_ lifts off the ground. “I know how to do my job. This isn’t my first gig.”

“I’m just making sure. This mission is worth a lot, I don’t need you screwing it up.”

I raise my eyebrows, turning to look at him in disbelief. I realize I’m not nearly as intimidated by him anymore as I am irritated, and I’m not quite sure which one is worse. “If anything, this was my mission first. You don’t get to talk as if I’m just some random person you picked up for help.”

“Except, you are.”

My hands tighten into fists as I accelerate and fly the ship away from Mos Eisley. He is exactly the kind of person I expected him to be. 

“You could be a little nicer, you know.” A moment of silence passes by before I look at the Mandalorian again. He’s facing away, staring out the window at the monotony of Tatooine as we race by. I scoff, turning away, too. “Although, I guess I wasn’t expecting anything other than this from someone like you. If you didn’t want me, you should have never agreed to work together.”

**\- - -**

I focus my binoculars on the top of the cliff, barely being able to see the peak of the pirates’ base. I parked _The Casstian_ far enough away so that security wouldn’t be alerted to our presence, but I’m not looking forward to the trek across the vast plain of sand that stands before us and them.

The clinking of metal behind me forces me to swivel around, watching the Mandalorian inspect a metal spear that I somehow didn’t notice before.

“What’s that?”

“A Beskar spear. I just came into possession of it recently.”

“That’s pretty cool. Not sure how it will hold out against a bunch of criminals with guns, though.”

His head tilts slowly up to look at me. I’m sure he’s as annoyed by the fact that we have to work together as I am. _He doesn't even have the right to be annoyed. He's the one that agreed to take me with him._ “Don’t worry. I can handle myself.”

“Right. Race of fierce warriors, huh? Well, you do you,” I mutter, quickly running back into the ship and retrieving my DL-44 blaster, tucking it safely into my holster. I leave the binoculars on board and step off to lock the ship. 

After putting on my jacket, I pick up my own pieces of armour that I have set in the sand, and attach them on my clothing. Two pauldrons, a small chest piece, and two thigh pieces. I can see the Mandalorian peering curiously. 

"It's simple iron, nothing as fancy as your Beskar, but it works. I only use them for the riskiest bounties."

"How do they...stick on?"

"I had tiny but powerful magnets implanted in my body years ago, just five in the necessary spots. The armour hangs on pretty damn well, but I can't wear it right on my skin."

"Huh. I didn't even know you could do that."

"It's pretty useful." I attach the last piece on my right thigh and straighten up, shaking my limbs to make sure everything is in order. The Mandalorian stands up, tossing his billowing cape behind him, and holsters the blaster as well as sheathes the spear on his back. 

“Is there something I can call you, by the way?” I ask, the question suddenly popping into my head. “You have a name, right?”

“Look, we’re just here to complete this one mission together. You don’t need to know my name. Let’s just get this done and go our separate ways.”

I frown at him, the comment getting under my skin. I already hate the idea of working with him and splitting the money, but his being difficult is making this nearly impossible. 

“Fine. Guess I’ll just call you Mando then, is that fine?”

“Call me whatever you want,” he says as he walks past me and starts towards the cliff in the distance. I curse at him in my head as I stuff my helmet into a backpack and sling it over my shoulders, following the Mandalorian’s steps but keeping a good distance between us. 

As we walk, I can't help but study his movement. I've noticed it before, but it's so curious in the way that he doesn't move any more than he needs to, always restricting gestures and body movements to the minimum. As frustratingly hard as it is to read him, I can imagine that one would get to know the meaning of every subtle jerk of a muscle that he makes, if they spent enough time with him. I can't imagine anyone being able to stand him for more than a few minutes, though. I'm not surprised he seems to be travelling alone.

The journey to the mountain is long, but otherwise simple. From the angle that the base is positioned on top of the mountain, it is highly unlikely that the pirates are able to see us coming from down below.

What proves to be most difficult is the climb upwards once we reach the steep incline. 

Jagged, sharp rocks sit in enormous piles surrounding the mountain itself, concealing any path that may have existed that led to the top. It looks like a building that has collapsed a long time ago, leaving nothing but the rubble that makes it not only dangerous but extremely difficult to safely climb upwards, as most of the stones are loose and unsteady.

I look down after what feels like hours of climbing, and immediately wish I didn’t. Falling at this height and down towards all those stones would be fatal. I take a deep breath and set my foot on a relatively flat rock, applying a small amount of force before using it to push my entire body upwards.

“Be careful, please. I don’t like this,” I call up to Mando, who is a little bit ahead of me. “One wrong move and it feels like all of this will give away.”

The second the last word escapes my mouth, a stone Mando sets his foot on crumbles, sending him off balance and tumbling down. The sound of metal clanging against the stone fills the otherwise silent space, and I scrunch my face up as it echoes terribly loudly. 

I’m worried that he’s hurt terribly, or maybe even dead, but remember what metal protects him and my concerns vanish.

We both stay still for several minutes after Mando stops, praying that nobody heard him fall. My heart is practically leaping out of my chest as I strain to listen, my eyes on Mando as he makes the tiniest movements to readjust into a safer, more comfortable position and pray that no more sound emanates from him. 

“You idiot!” I yell at a seemingly safe time, throwing my hands up. “I said to be careful!”

“Will you shut up? It was an accident. The exact same thing could have happened to you.”

I shake my head and roll my eyes, watching him slowly get back on his feet. Tilting my head to look at the ledge we’re aiming for, I see that it’s not that far away, another half an hour or so and we should be able to reach it. That is, considering we don’t have any major setbacks.

Gingerly, I start to make my way up again, making sure to thoroughly test out every single rock I touch. I cringe at every tiny clink Mando’s Beskar makes against the rocks, bracing myself for the pirates to jump out at us soon and kill us both. 

_Bringing him was a mistake. At least I'm able to stay quiet._

“I wish I still had my jetpack,” Mando says, and I’m not sure if he’s saying it to me or himself.

I push myself up on top of a rather large rock and bend over to catch my breath. I can feel sweat all over my body as I take a long sip from my water canister, baffled greatly that Mando was still alive under all his layers. “You lost a jetpack? You’re seriously the lamest Mandalorian I have ever met.”

He comes up beside me, breathing heavily from the effort. “Have you met other Mandalorians?”

I stay silent, instead flicking my gaze over to the vast sandy landscape of Tatooine. I can hear Mando scoff softly before resuming the climb, my jaw clenching tightly. I wait a little bit for the redness in my cheeks to go away before catching up with him again.

“You know, you-”

“Shh!” he says suddenly, raising a finger to the bottom of his helmet and growing still. “Shut up.”

“If you tell me to shut up one more time-”

“I said shut up!” he snaps in a whisper-shout. In one swift movement, Mando jumps back down to me and wraps his arms around my body, pulling me back against the wall of the mountain and crouching under the ledge. A hand clamps over my mouth before I’m able to protest. I start tugging at the arms holding me to him, but he simply tightens his grip. 

I stop struggling, reaching for my blaster, but as soon as I do, I hear it. 

I completely freeze as various voices speaking some kind of language I don't know of meet my ears, and I let myself sink further into Mando’s hold, hoping to make myself smaller. The voices are distant at first but quickly get louder.

Even with my face turned away from Mando’s, I can hear the rapid breaths he’s trying to quiet and feel the rise and fall of his chest, and it’s more shocking than I thought it would be to see his calm composure replaced with panic. 

The pirates seem to be on the ledge hanging over us, muttering to each other about something or other. 

Mando lifts one of the arms gripping me and holds up three fingers in front of my face. I’m puzzled at first, but then notice how he’s craning his neck to look up at the bottom of the ledge, and realize he must be able to see the heat signatures of the pirates.

_Three isn’t too bad. Three is nothing at all. We can take them._

Confidence re-surging in me, I pry Mando’s hands off and creep ever so slowly to the edge of the little hideout, searching the rocks around us for the quickest pathway up to the ledge. 

Mando’s hands grasp and pull at my shirt, my jacket, desperately urging me to fall back and hide. I grab them and push them away, motioning for him to follow. If he is too scared to engage, I’ll do it myself. I don’t need Mando to succeed.

Silently pulling my blaster out of its holster, I take a quick breath before springing out from under the ledge and leaping up the rocks, praying that none of them were going to give out.

In seconds, my feet land on the edge of the cliff, and I quickly observe the positions of the three ugly reptilian creatures standing before me. Not waiting for them to register my sudden appearance, I aim and blast two of the three in seconds, their bodies collapsing on the sand with soft _thuds._ The third attempts to shoot his blaster in my direction, but in his panic and haste he makes such sloppy shots that dodging them is laughably easy.

I sweep my leg across the ground, letting him fall onto the sand next to his motionless friends. I kick his blaster away and step on his throat, watching him writhe uncontrollably, before sending a shot right through the centre of his skull.

His limbs stop thrashing, and he does not move again.

I holster my blaster just as Mando steps onto the top of the cliff, examining the three dead bodies. I cross my arms, giving him a wide smile. “See?”

“If we’re doing this together, then you can’t just make decisions on your own and take such dangerous risks. You have to cooperate with me.”

“If I had stopped to listen to you, we would still be cowering under this ledge and these little shits would have already left or found us, so I did us both a favour.”

He shakes his head and doesn’t reply, instead moves towards the large house situated on the other side of the cliff-top. It is really quite large, towering at about five or six stories and reaching across almost the entire opposite side. I can’t see very clearly from here, but I can tell the walls are crumbling with age. Whoever lived here must have abandoned it a very, very long time ago.

I take my eyes off the path for one second to look back to where we came from and almost immediately smack straight into Mando’s back. I stumble backwards in shock while he remains still, looking down at one of the pirates I had shot down instantly. 

“Watch it, Mando.”

“Andi.” 

His calling me by my name takes me aback slightly, and in seconds I observe his posture, the way he stands as if all his muscles are tensed. 

“What’s wrong?” I ask quietly, also looking down.

As soon as I do, I see it.

A tiny device lies in the limp hand of the pirate, a small, red light blinking in the centre of it. My heart drops as I realize what it is, and before I am able to say anything or move, a burst of green light shoots from the direction of the house and hits Mando square in the chest.

He grunts and collapses onto the sand, but I am pulling him up before he has a chance to get back up himself. The shot did not break through his armour, which sends a wave of relief through me, but my raging thoughts and churning stomach cause me to move as quickly as possible behind a large rock, Mando on my heels.

“Are you happy now?” he yells, peeking out from behind the rock to try and get a visual on the shooter.

_Shit._

“It’s fine, don’t panic. This doesn’t change anything.”

“Are you kidding?” he snaps, turning to face me. “They now know we’re here and if we don’t move fast and act smart, they’re either going to escape or wipe us out, and all thanks to you and your trigger happy self.”

I ignore him and pull my helmet out, securing it around my head. I hear Mando shoot multiple times towards the house while I carefully glance around the other side. 

I zoom in and spot a door on the side of the building that is relatively safe to enter through, it seems. There aren’t any balconies from which that area could be targeted, and it leads right into the main part of the building.

“Mando, follow me!”

“Wait!” I hear him call, right before shooting one last time. I hear the faint, distant sound of a scream. “I got the shooter, but I’m willing to bet he’s not alone. What’s our plan?”

“There’s a door on the West side of the building, and it seems safe. We should be able to get there no problem, and from there, shoot our way through the pirates.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself. You’ve already compromised this mission enough. I’m taking the lead.”

I barely have the chance to open my mouth and speak before Mando rushes past me and bolts to the house, leaving me no choice but to follow him. 

I look up at the house while I run, scanning for life signs within the walls. I'm too far away, though. I can't pick up heat signatures from out here, so there's no telling how many pirates are waiting to kill us in there.

_Shit, shit, shit._

A shot lands right in front of me, sending sand flying all around me. I start running in zig-zags, hoping whoever’s trying to kill me isn’t the most skilled shooter of them all. A few more shots land around me, and one even ricochets off one of Mando’s thigh pieces, but neither of us gets hit by the time we reach the door.

We both lean back on either side of it, panting heavily, and I await Mando’s signal. If he wants to lead so badly, fine, I’ll let him. As long as we get out of here alive and I get my credits.

He raises a finger to his helmet again, and I nod. I watch as he steadily and silently pushes the door open, his blaster aimed at the opening and ready to shoot.

I glance around the corner to make sure no one is coming, and then follow Mando inside.

The door opens up to a small, empty room. Like I thought I saw earlier, the building is extremely old and feels as though it's going to collapse on itself at any moment. Bugs skitter at our feet as we walk across the room and cobwebs, new and old, hang from the cracked ceiling. 

I stay behind Mando as he opens the next door to a much more open and larger room, immediately firing his blaster at two pirates descending a half-broken staircase all the way on the other side. 

I brush past him once we enter, smacking a few bugs that fly into my face. "Should we split up or stay together?"

"It'll be a lot easier to get through these pirates together. We'll make quick work of them."

"Okay, but remember, the one we are looking for, Vinii, needs to be kept alive. Part of his left ear is missing, that's how you know it's him." Mando gives me a firm nod before starting down one of the hallways to the left, keeping his blaster up and moving quickly from room to room. We take down at least ten more pirates, all of them rushing at us with standard assault blasters, which probably are good enough to do quite a lot of damage, but the pirates' speed is unmatched compared to that of ours.

As we continue down a hallway, past windows that look out onto the great sandy fields, a pirate jumps out of a room we had already passed and tackles me to the floor, our bodies landing hard on the rough ground, my armour clanging, and sending dust flying everywhere. I can feel my blaster fly out of my hand and skid across the floor. Mando spins around and points his gun at us, but hesitates. I try to wrestle the creature into a position where Mando would be able to shoot, but the pirate swings his long tail and it collides with Mando, sending him flying to the other side of the hallway. Once his attention is back on me, he realizes he has the advantage and overpowers me, wrapping his huge hands around my throat easily after pushing off my helmet.

For a split second, all kinds of thoughts race through my brain. I wonder if this is where I die, I wonder if this is how it all ends for me. So many years doing dangerous work, and it all comes to a screeching halt on a desert planet in the Outer Rim, in some old, crumbling building. I can feel my legs kicking under the creature as he squeezes the life out of me, watching with amusement in his eyes as all colour drains from my face.

A terrifying thought comes to me: what if the Mandalorian just leaves me here to die? What if he lets me die and takes the whole reward for himself? Would he do that? Would he really? 

Newfound anxiety is just beginning to brew when the creature is suddenly pulled off of me, allowing air to flow through my body once again. I gasp and cough on the floor as Mando slams the pirate against the wall, holding him by his neck tightly until he stops resisting and goes limp.

Mando drops him onto the floor, his chest moving with his heavy breaths. He stares down at the pirate for a moment, and then tilts his head to look at me. I push myself to my feet and retrieve my blaster and helmet. "Thanks," I mutter to him, not looking up.

"Yeah."

We circle back to the main room with the stairs eventually, and Mando goes ahead to climb the stairs while I cover him, and he does the same for me as soon as he reaches the landing. I slip multiple times, the old stone breaking up into pieces under my boots. 

I reach the second floor, scanning for heat signatures immediately and looking all around me to ensure another surprise attack doesn't occur. There aren't any life forms on this floor, but we remain vigilant as we scout the different rooms, all empty and destroyed to some extent.

Making our footsteps as light as possible, we move quietly, listening for any movement. The peace and silence of the building unnerves me, and I can tell Mando is tense, too. It's too peaceful. I can't tell if my scanners are broken or if there really aren't any life forms within the short distance that my helmet can scan, but either way, it puts me on edge.

"Mando, I'm not picking anything up."

"Neither am I," he says, peeking into a doorway.

I sigh, resting my hands on my hips. "What if they escaped?"

I watch as he turns, and I'll never know what he was about to say to me, if he was even going to say anything, because it all happens so fast.

We both seem to hear the footsteps above us, and see the dust lightly falling from the ceiling. Our blasters are trained in less than a second onto the hole in the roof that neither of us noticed, but a circular object falls between us onto the floor and we both forget about the pirate as the rapid, familiar beeping registers and we both scream at each other to run.

I manage to get a few good strides in before the deafening explosion rings in my ears and my body is thrown forwards by a powerful force. Thankfully, I land in the middle of the next room instead of slamming into a wall. Sharp stones pierce my ribs and my hands burn and sting, but I manage to push myself up onto my knees. I gasp in pain as I pull my helmet off, taking a quick look at it and finding it shattered, the back and right side of it completely destroyed. Tossing it aside, frustrated and distracted by the throbbing pain on my head, I stumble to my feet and turn to go back to where we were. A piece of one of my pauldrons and several bits of the thigh pieces break off and fall as I walk.

"Mando?" I call, barely hearing myself. My vision blurs slightly as I stagger back towards where we were, hoping he was able to get out of the way in time. I swallow as a nauseous feeling overtakes me, the whole world tilting. I grab onto the doorway, squeezing my eyes shut and shaking my head.

Sudden contact on my shoulders causes me to spin around way too fast, my blaster raised. Thank whoever was watching up there that it was only Mando, because I know full well I'm not able to defend myself properly. I sway on my feet, Mando's arms holding me up.

"Are you okay?" I hear him ask, his filtered voice so far away, as if I was klicks and klicks under the water and he was trying to talk to me from the surface. I try to nod, but I don't think I look very convincing. He pulls me along, back the way we came, and it takes everything out of me to try and stay upright.

Things seem to start coming back and stabilizing, the ringing in my ears calming down, as well. 

I'm just beginning to form words to relay to Mando that I seem to be fine, when about ten pirates emerge from the ceiling and floor, surrounding us from all sides. I start to aim, but Mando lays a hand on my arm, stopping me. We stand back to back, turning in a circle. I focus, doing my absolute best to be aware of every little movement coming from the reptilian bandits.

"Put your blasters down, now!" one of the pirates yells.

"Do it," Mando says to me. My head snaps to look at him, my eyebrows pressed together.

_He doesn't even want to go out fighting? Does he really want to surrender? What a fucking coward._

"But-"

"Andi. Trust me."

I glare at him, but there's something in the way he said it that reassures me. It takes me a moment, but I lower and set my blaster on the floor, Mando doing the same. My breath catches in my throat as all ten pirates move in closer to us, and I am about to curse at Mando when a series of high-pitched whistling sounds fill the room and tiny little rockets hit the pirates in the chest, sending them sprawling across the floor. 

Four are left by the end. I kick the blaster out of the hands of one and punch him hard across the face, dodging the other pirate's attempt to knock me out with his own gun. I see in my peripheral vision that Mando is dealing with two guys simultaneously using his Beskar spear, expertly handling it. I duck as a shot comes my way and throw myself at his legs, tackling him.

"Andi, get out of the way!" I hear. I stop mid-punch, the words somehow processing quickly, and crawl backward away from the pirate. Not two seconds later, a stream of bright, hot fire shoots out of Mando's wrist, engulfing the pirates in flames. Their screams fill the room, and the scent of something burning spreads quickly.

As soon as they all stop writhing in pain, the fire disappears, and it's silent again.

We both stand still for a minute, catching our breaths. I point to his wrist, cocking my head. "That's some pretty cool shit you got in there. Nice work."

"How do you feel?"

"I'm okay. Still a little dizzy, but it'll pass."

I pick up my blaster and move to return to where the explosion took place, but Mando pulling me back by the arm stops me. He turns me towards him and examines my head, then my hands, holding them up to his visor. "You're bleeding. Pretty badly."

I glance down and notice his own gloves torn and stained red. I am about to speak but I pause as I spot a hint of golden skin near his wrist, peeking through where a piece of his glove is ripped off. I stare at it for a moment, somehow not believing that there's an actual person under all this armour. 

"So are you. It's not a big deal. Let's keep moving." 

Loud shouts all of a sudden echo through the building, and Mando and I both look up. "It came from one of the top floors. They're still here."

After collecting our weapons, we both do our best to hustle to the next set of stairs all the way on the other side of the floor. I catch Mando limping slightly and note the way he is still taking two steps at a time up the stairs and rushing, pushing through what could be a serious pain. 

Mando and I scramble up two sets of stairs before it's apparent that the remaining pirates are on this floor. It's a lot more crowded with items, unlike the other floors, which are mostly empty. Guns, ammunition, random machine parts are all littering the ground in a disorganized manner, looking more like a wasteland than a base. The next room over contains many crates stacked on top of each other, seemingly full of food rations. 

We move swiftly but quietly, my grip tightening on my blaster as the voices grow nearer. 

At one point, Mando stops before a closed door. He moves to lean against the wall, listening into the room. I move up close, too, the support from the wall doing wonders to help keep me up.

"Quick, come on! They'll be here soon!" a gravelly voice spits on the other side. I look at Mando and give him a look that says, _"Thank the Maker they're still here."_

Mando takes a moment to examine his wrist, seemingly making sure some mechanism was still intact. He looks at me and nods, and I nod back. 

He doesn't waste any time, twisting and kicking the door open in one movement. I rush in after him, shooting the few pirates that are left, who all fall limp next to several old speeder bikes. A reptile I missed while coming in smashes me in the head with something hard, and I fall to my knees from the scorching pain that shoots through my body. 

I groan and flip over, finding myself staring down the barrel of a blaster.

"Shoot her and I kill him."

I look over to the other side of the room, where Mando is holding a blaster to Dree Vinii himself, all wrapped up in what looks like a tight rope. 

As the pirate aiming his blaster at me looks fearfully between me and Mando, I take the opportunity to smack the gun out of his hands and kick him back against the wall. He tries to get up, but driving my toe into his eyes and nose multiple times seems to do the trick.

I sit on the floor, Mando saying something in the background. I bring my hand to my eyes, rubbing circles into them and wincing, bursts of pain erupting everywhere. My head throbs as I force myself to stand, my legs feeling like they will give out at any second.

"Andi," Mando says, not taking his eyes off Vinii, who was sitting tied up against the wall. "One of us has to get the ship here. I'm not dragging this fucker all the way out there."

"I agree, yeah...I'll go, You stay here with Vinii."

"Are you sure? You don't look like you're in any condition to go anywhere."

I pick up my blaster and am already walking out the door before he finishes his sentence. 

"Come on, Andi," I whisper to myself as I descend the stairs. "You're almost done. Just get to the ship."

I wind my way back through hallways and rooms, being wary of the dead bodies, in case they aren't actually dead. Everybody seems to be still, though. I try to concentrate and keep my eyes wide open, finally finding my way out of the building where we came in from. 

The beating suns feel brutal. My nausea only gets worse as I step into the heat, but I keep moving. Maneuvering down all the rocks takes way too long for my liking, especially since I have to take extra precautions this time. Moving downwards proves to be a lot easier. Sunset is already underway when I reach the base of the hill.

I attempt to run across the plain, wanting to get to the comfort and safety of my ship as fast as possible, but all I manage is a pathetic jog for a few seconds at a time. My heavy breaths soon turn into violent coughs, and all I can think about is the medicine on board my ship. I can see it, in the distance. I'm almost there. 

I keep dragging my feet through the sand, reminding myself that everything is going to be alright, and soon I'm going to be leaving this planet with 25,000 new credits in my account, ready to-

An ear-splitting _BANG_ behind me sends me tumbling face-first into the sand, the ground shaking beneath me. I lay still for a minute, breathing, coughing. It takes too much energy to flip myself over, and when I do, I gasp. My eyes widen as they focus, and I can't bring myself to even begin to believe what I'm seeing.


	3. Chapter 3

**3**

* * *

I leave Mando alone for less than two hours and he blows up the fucking pirate base.

Cursing profusely, I take the last few steps to _The Casstian,_ punching in the code on the side panel and breathing a long, deep sigh of relief the second the cool air of the interior and the familiar smell envelops me.

Before I do anything, I dig out my medical kit from one of the many little storage units I have set up on the right side of the hull. It contains a lot of different stuff, but I reach for the syringe and plunge it into my arm as fast as I can, releasing the blue fluid into my veins and immediately feeling the pain start to dissipate. The pounding in my head isn't as sharp, the occasional bluriness in my vision stops, and the world finally appears still. 

I don’t let myself enjoy the moment, however. I mutter incoherently to myself, praying to the Maker that Mando is alright and somehow survived that huge explosion, which completely took down the whole building and left nothing, the remains hidden in a great cloud of dust. The chances of him living are low, but I don’t think about that.

After prying the broken armour off my body, I plop into the pilot’s chair in the cockpit, flipping all the right switches and pushing all the right buttons. My movements are slightly slower than usual due to the distracting euphoria the healing fluid is putting me through.

I bring my hands to eye level and turn them around as the engines start, noticing the way the cuts are already closing up. 

_The Casstian_ lifts off, and reaching the wreckage of the base takes mere minutes. I run a scan as I hover over the cliff, my breaths short and rapid. The anticipation nearly kills me, my eyes unblinking and trained on the screen. I tap my fingers on the control panel nervously, waiting.

The scan comes back negative, and I read the words over and over again, not quite accepting what my eyes are looking at. At some point after re-reading the sentence enough times to recite it, I slump back in my chair, staring blankly at the horizon in the distance.

Mando's dead. The bounty’s dead. Both of them. Whatever happened killed them both.

I sit still for several moments in disbelief, a million thoughts shoving their way to the front of my mind. 

_What’s going to happen with the payment? Can I maybe find Vinii’s dead body and deliver that? What am I supposed to tell Nhiff if I can’t find it, or it’s torn apart entirely? What the hell even happened?_

Lazily and distracted, I grab the steering console and pull right, turning the ship back towards Mos Eisley. It’s worth having a chat with Nhiff about this. Maybe there’s still some way to save this job.

I lean back and drag my hands down my face, realizing how hungry and exhausted I am. 

I can’t get my mind off Mando. I didn’t like him in the slightest, but he fought with me until the very end. We were so close to being successful. I curse at him out loud, feeling angry, but simultaneously guilty for that same anger. Maybe I'm being unfair.

_I’m sure he didn’t mean to kill them both. I’m sure he tried to stop it._

I am about to contact Nhiff and let him know what happened when the radio I have installed in the ship’s control panel starts crackling furiously, making me jump. It starts out as pure, meaningless noise, and then slowly, words and phrases make their way through the static.

I try to boost the connection, wondering who the hell is trying to contact _me._

The moment I get in 5 klicks within Mos Eisley, the transmission becomes clear and the deep modulated voice I strangely recognize immediately fills the cockpit.

_“Andromeda, are you receiving?”_

I am speechless for a moment, so dumbfounded that I manage to completely forget on the spot that he used my full name. I hold down a button and say, “Mando?”

_“Yes, it’s me, you-”_

“What-how are you-what the hell happened back there?” I exclaim, both relieved, confused, and shamelessly enraged at him. “Where are you? Where’s-”

 _“Listen to me!”_ he yells, his voice louder and more on edge than I’d heard it before. _“Dree Vinii is escaping right now, he is going to take a ship from the hangar bay in Mos Eisley. I lost him, I don’t know which one it is. Take your ship and lock onto whichever is the next one that leaves the hangar bay.”_

I’m already setting up the tracking mechanism, my fingers trembling. “What if it happens to be someone else? How do you even know he’s going to take a ship?”

_“What else is he supposed to do? He's obviously going to try to flee.”_

I don’t reply, slowing down as I near Mos Eisley’s hangar bay. It takes a little circling and observing, but I soon spot a small passenger transport ship lifting up out of one of the spaces. I risk doing a quick scan of the ship as soon as I’m close enough, just to make sure it’s the one. I'd hate to complicate things further by following the wrong people.

My leg bounces up and down and I bite my lip as I wait for the scan to tell me who’s on the ship.

 _“Did you get him?”_ Mando’s voice rings through the space. _“I see a ship leaving, that has to be him.”_

“Hold on.”

_“What are you waiting for? He’s getting away, Andi-”_

“Hold ON!” I yell, muting the radio and groaning loudly. “Dank farrik...hurry up.”

The scan concludes with a beep and tells me there’s only one life form on board, a male. That confirms it.

I fire up the locking device, keeping my ship at a constant distance away from his quickly ascending and accelerating vessel. 

“Come on, come on,” I mumble, eyes skipping from his ship and to the screen in the control panel showing me an outline of the craft and the various extra scans being done by the computer in order to lock onto it. 

He definitely sees me by now, and as soon as he exits the planet, he’ll be jumping to hyperspace, no doubt. I slam my hand against the panel and scream in frustration.

To my utter relief, several beeps signal me that that lock has been made, and now I can track his ship anywhere in the galaxy, even after he jumps to hyperspace. 

My adrenaline rushing, I make sure to follow him until he makes the jump, just to make sure he doesn’t get suspicious of me suddenly leaving and going back to Tatooine in the middle of chasing him.

I land in the same hangar bay I was in before, seeing Mando leaning against the wall on the side, looking defeated. I push a button above me as soon as _The Casstian_ touches the ground and the door opens in the hull, allowing the Mandalorian to stumble onto my ship, one arm holding his side and the other gripping the walls for support.

Wasting no time, I hurry to sweep a bunch of random ship parts off a bench sitting against the wall, and help him lower himself down.

He grunts in pain as he leans back, his chest moving up and down rapidly. He looks so vulnerable, so unguarded. Even in all his armour, even with his title that holds so much meaning and background, that can make people cower in fear, Mando comes across defenceless in this moment...and I don’t know what to make of that.

"Hey!" someone calls from outside, startling me. I peek into the circular space, seeing a worker come up to the ramp. "You gonna stay here all night? You know you gotta pay bonus, Andromeda. This isn't a hotel."

I groan, digging in my pockets for any extra credits I might have lying around. "I don't have time for this right now, Geir. I promise I'll pay you tomorrow, alright? I have something I have to attend to. It's extremely urgent. But tomorrow, I promise!" I pull the lever on the inside and give a small wave to the man, who has his arms crossed and a bothered expression on his face.

I rush back to Mando before the door is barely halfway closed. “What the hell happened?” I ask, briskly retrieving my medical kit. He doesn’t answer me, just continues to breathe and stare at the opposite wall.

“Did you get a lock?” he mumbles, his voice weak.

“Yeah, yeah, I did. I can track Vinii anywhere.”

“Good...good.”

I set the kit down and stand awkwardly, hesitant to touch him. I glance at the hand holding his side, however, and the way it’s stained red tells me I don’t have much of a choice. 

“Where are you hurt?” 

“Just...below my ribcage. I think-I think a large piece of debris hit me in the explosion."

I let out a soft laugh. "Which one?" My attempt at alleviating the tension clearly doesn't impress him, so I clear my throat and continue, “Okay...do you want me to take you to a hospital? There’s a medical station right-”

“No, no. No, don’t do that. Better you doing th-this...than them. They might try to take-take my helmet off.”

“Is...is that bad?”

“Yes,” he says firmly, several coughs following. He inhales sharply as he sits up and rolls his head along the wall to look at me. “You can remove every piece of Beskar. But not the helmet.”

I want to question him about it further, but decide now is perhaps not a very good time. I find that his Beskar is attached in a way that is similar to my iron pieces. He most likely has magnets within the clothes under the armour that he wears, allowing the metal to stick easily and effectively. 

I carefully remove and set down all five components of his set. 

"This too," he mutters, half-heartedly gesturing to the fabric around his neck. I grasp it and carefully pull it over his helmet, bring it in from behind him, and wrap the Beskar in what's left of the long cape on the floor. Looking back up at him feels strange, with all the skin on his neck exposed. I can see the tiny movement of his throat as he swallows, the twitches of the muscles, the beads of sweat gathering on his light skin, which appear shiny in the golden lights of the ship. I tear my eyes away and kneel down to examine his wounds, and even though I can’t know for sure, I’m almost certain I can feel him watching me through his visor. It makes me uncomfortable, to say the least, but I can't blame him if he doesn't trust me. I'd be hesitant putting so much responsibility into his hands if it were me in his place, too. Maybe he's worried that I'll take his Beskar and run, but I know full well that even in his state, he's fast enough to catch me within seconds.

Regardless, I take his free hand between mine, bracing for him to tell me to stop, or to push it away. He doesn’t.

I pull off both of his torn gloves, all the bloody cuts on his hands exposed to the air. My eyes linger for a moment, still somewhat surprised I’m looking at his skin. It feels wrong, somehow. Like I'm not supposed to be getting such a good look at what he's like under all the armour. 

“I have a syringe here, I’ll insert it into your wrist." It's the last one in the medicine kit that I could find, and I thank the Maker there was still one left for him. "It’ll heal up all the minor cuts and scratches really quickly, and will take away most of the pain.”

There’s no response, just the nearly silent, ragged breaths coming through his microphone.

I watch him relax after I release the fluid, at least relieved that he’s not going to pass out from the pain. His breathing steadies and his head lulls to the side.

“Can I...pull your shirt up?” I ask quietly. I’m not sure if he hears me, but after a moment he gives a small nod, moving his hand away.

I grab the hem of his shirt and hike it up until the wound is fully visible. I wince at the sight, at all the dried and fresh blood surrounding it.

“Is it bad?”

“You’ll be fine. How about you...I don’t know, tell me about your family,” I offer as I rummage around in the kit for some disinfectant. 

“What? Why?”

“To distract yourself.”

I shouldn’t be surprised when he doesn’t say anything, and I’m not. It just frustrates me how he’s not even willing to try and build _some_ sort of connection, especially since we have to keep working together for a little longer. 

“I’ve always been curious about your creed, and your beliefs. Your lifestyle. Now your helmet, and why you don't want to take it off. Tell me about it.” I pull out a clean cotton pad and pour some of the liquid on it.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

I don’t even know why I try. Maybe it’s the constant loneliness of travelling alone and killing people for a living. I like being alone, but sometimes, I feel like I’d sacrifice everything just to have a good, long, and real conversation with someone. The thoughts inside my head and meaningless chatter from the bounties I collect can only do so much. Maybe it’s because I feel bad for him. All alone and a complete asshole. I wonder if he struggles to get along with everyone he comes across, or it’s just me that he can’t seem to find common ground with. 

Without giving him a warning, I press the pad against his wound, finding some satisfaction in his hisses of pain. His back arches, skin definitely stinging like crazy.

I wait for Mando to recover, for his breathing to stabilize again and his body to relax. I decide the wound doesn’t need stitches, and a bandage will do. If it gets worse, I’ll stitch him up, but for now it should be alright.

I apply a bandage to the wound, the edges of the material attaching tightly to his skin. Trusting that the serum was going to take care of the rest of the minor injuries like his dark bruises, I move down to inspect his legs, but don’t find anything out of the ordinary.

“What are you doing?” he asks, tilting his head down.

“I saw you limping. I thought you might have broken something.”

“I’m fine. Probably just a sprain.”

I turn around and push a button on the opposite wall, a door sliding up to reveal a small room with a bed taking up most of the space. It’s usually where I sleep, but he needs it a lot more than I do.

“It’s late. You need to get some rest.”

I help him up and walk him over, watching him swing his legs up and rest his head on the pillow. I cringe at the thought of all the dirt and grime he was probably getting on the fabric, but bite my lip and keep my mouth shut about it. I pull a few packs of rations off the shelf next to me, tossing two to him. He places them by his side and folds his hands on his stomach.

“You gonna take your helmet off? Or do you eat and sleep with it on?”

He sighs, adjusting his legs. “It’s not safe for me to take it off here.”

“I promise I won’t look.”

I stand there for a while, waiting for some response, but it never comes, and he never moves. Eventually, I take the hint and start to leave, but halt when I hear low grumbles coming from him.

“What?” I ask.

He turns his head, and I stare through his visor. “Thank you.”

The words take me by surprise. It's by far the nicest thing I've ever heard him say. I give him a small smile and a nod before exiting the room and closing the door behind me. The day and all of the shit it carried with it hits me as I fall back against the metal, rubbing my knuckles against my tired eyes.

I climb into the pilot’s chair in the cockpit, pulling my knees up. It’s not nearly as comfortable as my bed, but I quickly discover I don’t even care. For a little while, I nibble on the food from the ration pack, but my eyes keep closing as if they’re being tugged down by an impossibly heavy load, and within minutes, I am fast asleep, my last thought being whether or not Mando was sleeping in his helmet.

\- - -

Tatooine mornings are still hot as fuck, but definitely a lot more bearable than afternoons. That’s why the second I open my eyes groggily in the early hours of dawn, I start to prepare to leave as quietly as possible, hoping not to wake up Mando. Taking a hot shower is a blessing to my tense muscles and dirty skin, the water spreading an unexplainable feeling through me, one I desperately needed to feel after the chaos of the previous day. Cleaning my teeth and brushing my short hair out doesn't take nearly as much time, and I'm out of the ship with all my necessary belongings before I even realize it.

I take a minute outside to send a transmission to Nhiff, requesting to meet him at the same cantina in an hour. After dropping off a few credits with some of Geir's droids, I head out. I spend the time searching through countless shops in the marketplace, taking advantage of the considerably smaller crowd and looking for replacements for Mando's clothes. I have a lot of clothing on my ship, but nothing that would fit him. I recall the way his pants and shirt looked yesterday; torn, wrecked, and burned in multiple places. I don't know why I'm going out of my way to do this for him. Maybe it's because it would be all too humiliating and sad to watch him walk around in those destroyed clothes, so I'm probably acting out of pity. 

_Whatever it is, he better be fucking grateful._

It takes me a while and a lot of digging through piles of fabric to find a pair of black cargo pants and a dark, long-sleeved shirt to go along with it. They look like they'll fit, so I decide to take a gamble and buy them. I manage to pick up a pair of good quality black and red gloves that I'm sure he'd be glad to have. Lastly, I end my shopping trip by picking up five of the strongest magnets I could find, also ensuring they were a reasonable size. 

Before heading to the cantina, I drop off the new clothes and magnets at the home of a kind old woman who I know works as a tailor, and is highly praised for the quality of her work. I'm pretty sure I wake her up, but I pay her extra and instruct her to fasten the magnets to the fabric with the tightest thread she had, remembering to show her exactly where, as well.

And so, with the matter of Mando's new gift off my mind, I go back and wait inside the cantina, sipping on a partially alcoholic drink and thinking about how Nhiff is going to react when he finds out how Mando and I fucked up so royally.

My breath hitches for a moment when I see him enter the establishment. I wave him over, straightening up in my seat and downing the rest of my drink.

“Hello, Andi,” he says, looking rather cheery. He's probably expecting me to deliver some really great news. "Where's Mando?"

I wring my fingers under the table and decide to get straight to the point. “Uh, so...about that, Mando and I lost Vinii last night.”

I purse my lips as his happy expression drops, taking in my words. “What did you say?”

“Things went downhill fast yesterday, and Mando got hurt, he's resting right now on my ship. Vinii got away, _but_ I am tracking him with my ship, so I know exactly where he’s going. Don’t worry, we’ll still get him, it just might take a lot longer than we initially thought.”

Nhiff shakes his head. “I’m disappointed. I expected him to be delivered _yesterday,_ you know, but now that you’re telling me you don’t even have him today…”

“I know, I’m sorry, okay? But we’ll catch him, I swear.”

“A Mandalorian and a skilled bounty hunter, not able to take down one pirate even with their combined efforts.”

I look away, his words antagonizing me. It isn’t my fault Mando screwed us over so bad. If I could turn back time, I know exactly where I would go and what I would do differently. All of this is really not worth the tons of extra effort.

“Well, just make sure you don’t take too long," Nhiff says matter-of-factly. "The more time you spend chasing after him, the smaller the reward will be.”

This is exactly what I was afraid of, but I give him a tight-lipped smile and nod, reaching out my hand for him to shake. I make to leave the table right afterwards, eager to get back on the ship and get going. I bid Nhiff farewell and promise to return with Vinii soon before exiting the cantina, picking up the adjusted clothes from the tailor, and heading to _The Casstian._

I drop my jacket on the bench as I get on board, the interior still and silent. “Mando?” I call, knocking on the door of my room. It's been at least an hour, I'm sure he's woken up by now.

“In here!” 

His voice fills the whole ship, originating from the cockpit. I find him sitting in the passenger seat, looking straight ahead out the window at seemingly nothing in particular. 

“Good morning. How do you feel?” I ask.

Mando lifts his shirt up, revealing a short, thin line where the open wound was just yesterday, now just a scar, a memory.

"I don't know where you got that stuff, but now the cut is completely gone."

I discovered the serum on the black market a while ago, and have been buying it ever since. My dangerous encounters with criminals aren't nearly as frightening as they used to be with something like this at hand. It costs a shit ton of credits, though, which is why I keep them only for the direst of circumstances. “Wow. That serum did a lot better than I thought it would, it looks great.” I reach out to touch his skin with my fingertips but he drops his shirt the second he notices my approaching hand.

I’m not sure how to react, to be honest. This man is a mystery to me, and I don’t think I can ever truly figure him out. It’d be too complicated, and I don’t have the time nor do I care enough.

“Anyways,” I say, swivelling my chair around to face the control panel. I unlock the display screen and check on the tracker, hoping Vinii has stopped somewhere. “I talked to Nhiff. He wasn’t happy, but he’s willing to wait a little longer. Our payment will go down the more time we take, though, so...we should get going soon.”

“Okay.”

"Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.”

I raise my eyebrows. "Are you sure, because - oh, look!" I cry. "I got a result. He's stopped on Hosnian Prime.”

Mando twists his head slowly to look at the computer and then lets out a huge sigh. “That’s extremely unfortunate.”

“Why?”

“You ever been to Hosnian Prime? Think Coruscant, but worse. Too crowded, too many people. It could take years for us to find him.”

“Well, luckily, it won’t. I can see exactly where he’s parked.”

He sighs again, and I resist the urge to bang his head against the wall. “We should get going then. The sooner we get done with this, the better. This is already turning out to be a huge waste of my time.”

"You don't get to complain, Mando. We wouldn't be in this mess if it weren't for you."

"So, we're just going to ignore the fact that you alerted all the pirates to our presence, like an amateur?"

"An amateur?" I repeat, scoffing. "Rich, coming from a fucking Mandalorian who not only let the fugitive escape, when he had all the advantage over him, might I add, but also blew up the whole building and almost killed himself."

"That...his buddy, that _you_ were supposed to kill, by the way, shot some fuel tanks in the corner before I could stop him. It was probably an escape plan in case things went wrong, because it clearly worked. Vinii took the speeder and was gone in seconds. I barely made it out of there."

"Just admit it, you fucked up big time."

"We both fucked up, Andi."

"Okay, fine. Sure. Let's just...move on. We'll try to cooperate from now on, deal?"

"Maker, am I excited to see you try. Didn't even know you knew the meaning of the word," Mando says. He gets up from the chair and returns to the hull, leaving me fuming by myself and fighting the almost irresistible desire to throw him off the ship right here and now. 

\- - -

Once we’re in hyperspace, I lend Mando a toothbrush and some shower products so he can clean himself up and get rid of all the bloodstains on his skin. I also give him the clothes that I bought on Tatooine, which I honestly considered not doing after our little row earlier. It's too bad I already spent the credits, though, so I have no choice but to give the clothes to him. I tell him that I had someone sew magnets on for his Beskar, too, hoping that he'll be extra thankful and impressed.

He examines the fabric for a long time, perhaps stalling for time to muster up some kind of a "thank you" without actually saying it. Eventually, however, all I get is a small tilt of his head, and he's gone to the back of the ship, rendering me speechless and leaving me standing alone in the hull.

_I bet he has some kind of brain malfunction that physically prevents him from being nice to other people._

It feels strange to have a Mandalorian on your ship, performing such mundane tasks as showering.

I stay in the cockpit the whole time, not daring to even glance behind me in case he walks out naked or without his helmet on. I know he’s probably way too paranoid to even shower without that piece of metal around his head, but just to be sure, I keep my eyes straight.

I relax in the pilot seat, watching the blue streaks of light zoom past all around me, light flashing all throughout the cockpit. Something about being in hyperspace, feeling detached from regular reality and time, settles my nerves like nothing else does. Nothing exists here, nothing matters. To me, it’s a brief, temporary escape, unmatched by anything else. No matter how many times I travel this way, it never gets old.

After a while, Mando’s footsteps come up behind me, my eyes flying open despite being half asleep just a moment ago. He sits down in the passenger seat, dressed fully in the clothes and Beskar. He doesn't make any comment about the clothes, but I can tell they fit him well, and he looks comfortable. I'm slightly disappointed that I didn't fuck up his sizes and make his day worse, but oh, well. Another time. The Beskar is also shiny, looking brand new after a thorough cleaning. The beautiful light of hyperspace reflects gorgeously off the metal. It's almost hypnotic.

We don’t say anything to each other. Every so often I take a look at the tracker, making sure our target is still on Hosnian Prime. I don’t actually mind the quiet. I’d rather this than him pushing me to my limits every damn minute.

Eventually, he’s ironically the one to break the peace, and I almost don't listen, but what he says catches my attention instantly.

“You wanted to know about my creed?”

All I can think about is why he’s suddenly willing to open up to me about something from his life. What changed? But I don’t complain, and hum in response.

Deafening silence fills the hull for a minute or two. It's always quiet in hyperspace, but it's a lot heavier this time around. I'm about to open my mouth and tell him to talk before I drift off to sleep when he continues. “I swore a creed when I was little. I swore to never take my helmet off in front of other living beings. Taking it off and showing my face is against the Mandalorian way.”

I pull my knees up to my chest, scraping a piece of dirt off my boots. “But...I didn’t think all the Mandalorians are like that. I’ve heard stories-”

“I know. I was raised by...a separate group of Mandalorians who preferred the traditional way of life. Never knew it any other way until recently.”

“So, no one’s ever seen your face?”

He hesitates before speaking, his head bowing ever so slightly. “No.”

It absolutely baffles me, the fact that he has to walk around every day with his face hidden behind a mask, never being allowed to show anyone what he looks like, who he really is. It must be absolutely torturous. What kind of life is that? I suppose it could come with benefits like anonymity, but the cons, from my point of view, seem to outweigh the pros significantly. I feel kind of bad for him, thinking that's possibly the reason he seems so unhappy about everything, but he seems to be perfectly fine with it.

“And...what happens if, say, I were to take a peek?”

I say it mostly as a joke, but the way his head turns to look at me, the way I know his eyes are digging into mine from behind the visor, the way I suddenly want to look aside and avoid his gaze, it all makes my heartbeat pick up real fast. 

“Then I’ll have to kill you.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to quickly point out that I went back and changed something about the last chapter. When Andi buys Mando new clothes, she also purchases magnets and has them sewn to the clothes so that he can still wear his Beskar. Otherwise, it would be weird if he could attach it to any clothing. I somehow missed that detail when I was writing it. But yeah, I just wanted to let you know that that's how he continues to wear his Beskar with the new clothes, and it's now in the updated chapter 3. Thanks :)

**4**

* * *

In my career as a bounty hunter, I've always stuck to less populated planets away from the core of the galaxy. Fugitives of the law and even those who commit small, petty crimes prefer to hide and do their work on worlds where there were too few people to notice them. I've been offered jobs on major planets with billions of residents but have always turned them down. I find it's a waste of time to track down one single person over the course of weeks. I like to find a few bounties quickly one after the other, and relax for a period of time, just traveling in the comfort of my ship.

But, naturally, here I am, descending towards a bustling capital city that goes out as far as the eye can see in every direction, stretching impossibly high into the air. 

I stand up to get a better look at everything below us. It’s an incredibly messy and complicated maze of concrete and metal, and I can’t even see all the way down as there seem to be cracks in the ground here and there that lead even further to locations below the city.

“There are so many people,” I whisper, my eyes skipping between all the tiny moving dots littering the ground. I’ve never seen a place as crowded as this, and to be completely honest, it makes me more anxious than I think it should. “I’ve never been on Coruscant, but...I think this pretty much makes up for that.”

“Watch the traffic,” Mando tells me as we near a massive string of moving ships. There are countless of these, all moving in different directions. My ship is one of the few strays, flying around in their own path and avoiding the chaos.

I pull my eyes away from the ground as we enter the space between the monotonous gray buildings and look at my display. Vinii’s ship is sitting in a public docking station, just a few klicks ahead of our position. 

It’s a huge space, a sort of open hangar bay spanning a few hundred standard meters at least. Many different kinds of ships of various sizes are parked there, with creatures of all sorts wandering around inside, ants compared to the size of the building. 

I check the display a few times before finally spotting the passenger ship Vinii got away on, sitting at the back of the hangar. If we were coming in from the ground, it would not be as easy to see behind all the other ships. I decelerate, fly into the space, and gently touch down a good distance away from Vinii’s stolen transport. 

Someone is immediately knocking on my door, and when I lower it I find that it’s a Twi'lek requesting payment. I begin looking for credits when Mando comes up and drops a few in the Twi'lek's hand, stating that we’ll be here for an indefinite amount of time.

The Twi'lek thanks him and leaves, his eyes lingering on Mando’s Beskar. 

“I was going to pay. It’s my ship.”

“Think of it as a thank you. For the clothes.” He says it without looking at me, and it's a bit overdue, but I find myself appreciating it anyway.

I step into the cockpit and power down _The Casstian_ , looking through the window across the floor at Vinii’s ship.

“If he’s on there, we have to disable him.”

“Obviously. We’ll just knock him out.”

“I mean discreetly. Do you have a stun gun?”

I think for a moment, and am about to say no when it comes to me, and I instantly start to fall apart. I'm quite disappointed, actually. I've gone so long without thinking about it, just constantly pushing it to the back of my mind and hoping I'll forget. My legs suddenly feel unstable as an unforgiving wave of sorrow floods my body. Mando looks at me as I grab onto the pilot chair, gut churning.

_Fuck..._

“Are you okay?”

“I...yeah. I think I have something that might help.” I return to the hull and tentatively open up one of the larger storage units, my eyes landing on the sniper rifle resting there against the wall and my body freezing. I clutch the little door tightly and use my other hand to reach in and wrap my fingers around it slowly, feeling the cold body. Dust flies everywhere as I take it out and sweep it off. I stare at the gun. This is the first time I’ve held it in years, and for once in a long time, I can’t stop thinking, I can’t stop remembering-

Mando comes up beside me, and I think he notices the tears gathering in my eyes, but he doesn’t say anything. I hand him the rifle, letting him inspect it and look through the scope out into the hangar.

“Will it work?” I ask, making my voice as steady as possible. 

“Yes.”

I nod, even though he’s not looking at me, and start to get ready. I pull a brown leather jacket over my shoulders and secure a belt around my waist, all the while trying not to think about anything. I make sure my blaster has enough energy, and tuck a knife into my belt as well, just in case.

The air reeks of gas and smoke and metal outside. Everything is so artificial, it’s kind of overwhelming. I cross my arms as I gaze towards the outside, seeing the long concrete path lead into a large square, where at least a couple hundred people are milling around a tall, glistening fountain. I’m sure it smells the same out there.

Mando exits the ship behind me and I lock it. I avoid looking at him, just so I don’t accidentally catch a glimpse of the rifle in his hands, or he doesn’t see how red my face probably is and how much I’m holding back from breaking down on the spot.

_So much for putting the past behind me._

“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. If he’s inside the ship then he’s not going to see us coming. In that case, we’ll sit and wait outside for him to come out and then stun him.”

“And if he’s not there?”

“Then we wait.”

I don’t tell him that Vinii is most likely never coming back for this ship again if he isn’t here right now, because I’m sure he knows it himself.

We start to walk across the hangar, sticking to the back wall and keeping our eyes on the passenger ship ahead of us. When we get in a certain range, Mando taps the side of his helmet. 

“There’s a life form inside.”

“Just one?”

“Just one.”

I honestly was not expecting Vinii to still be on the ship. Either he’s extremely stupid, or he’s up to something. “What’s he still doing there? Is it even him?”

We get as close as we dare to the ship and crouch behind a pile of crates. Mando hides on the very edge, able to peek out and watch.

I sit down, my back against the boxes, and stare into nothing. My brain zones out, unwillingly flashing back to painful memories.

My skin tingles when I remember how she used to hug me and rub her thumbs against my palm when she held it, how he lifted me up into the air and made me scream joyfully, how he ran his fingers through my hair gently when I was falling asleep.

My hand subconsciously lifts to feel my hair, which used to be so long. She would comb it with that cheap little brush, and it would take way too long and hurt like a bitch, but her stories always kept me down and still. I fucking loved hearing all her stories. Half of them were probably made up, but that’s what made them so interesting.

I can almost smell the food that he brought home every day, so rich in taste. It was the envy of the whole village, and his shop’s success kept us going for a long, long time. I thought that one day, I would work there with him, maybe even take over once he got too old to run it.

My eyes drift to my boots, recalling the way she would yell at me when I would play in the mud and run around the woods for hours, coming back with boots dirtier than the banthas after a month without a wash. I would absentmindedly stroll into the house and leave huge trails of mud. It earned me my fair share of punishments, but they’d both reluctantly laugh about it the next day.

I look to my right past Mando, noticing all the children chasing each other and squealing happily, and I pity them. I can’t imagine growing up on a planet like this, on a planet where there's nowhere to go when you need to be alone, for the world to be quiet. There’s nothing but concrete and noise and people. 

I wonder what they would think of me now, what they would say if they could see me and what I do for a living, how I spend my time, how I use what they’ve given me. My lungs suddenly feel trapped, and it’s like all the air is being pulled out of the world. My sweaty palms helplessly come over my stomach, as if I know I’m about to throw up, or burst, or even simply die, and it only gets worse the more I think about them and what happened and how I-

“Andi, he’s coming out,” Mando says, wrenching me out of my thoughts. I take a few shaky breaths, my heart beating out of my chest. I swipe the back of my hand across my wet cheeks and convince myself that I’m okay, that what I’m doing is all for them and that they’d be proud of everything I’ve achieved.

After taking a few extra seconds to relax, I shake my head and twist around, peeking out the other side at the passenger ship.

It’s still for a moment, until the door on the side slides out and to the right, revealing a tall figure in a white and red jumpsuit. Much taller than I remember Vinii being.

Mando doesn’t hesitate and shoots him immediately. A ripple of blue travels all across his body, and he flies back, collapsing on the floor of the ship. We’re both frozen for a moment, gazing.

“I know this was the whole plan, but...that seemed way too easy.”

Mando gets up. “I agree.”

We both make our way to the ship, Mando holding the rifle at the ready in case Vinii’s not out.

As we approach, I sense something is wrong. I get a good look at his skin and see that it’s a slightly different shade than it’s supposed to be, his clothes are different from what they were on Tatooine, and even though I haven’t exactly looked at Vinii many times in my life, I can tell that my thought about his height looking off wasn’t stupid.

We get to the entrance of the ship and stare down at the body. Vinii is apparently a lot smarter than we thought.

“A decoy,” I say, wishing with everything I have that it’s not true, but Mando only confirms it.

“Maker, will this ever end?” he mutters, dropping the rifle on the ground with a clatter. He leans down and picks the body up, hauling it over his shoulder.

“What are you doing?” 

“We’ve gotta find out where Vinii is. If he left this Trandoshan as a decoy, he must have known we were coming for him.”

_Trandoshans. That's what they're called._

I watch as he walks back to the ship, and then finally look at the rifle again. I want to leave it, I really do. My heart clashes with my brain, and I struggle to decide if I should kick it away and forget about it or get it together and take it back with me, since we may possibly need it again in the future.

“Andi, come on!”

I decide that I’m going to have to get over what happened someday anyway, and as soon as this mission is over, I’ll throw it into the deep lakes of Naboo. So, I pick the gun up and run to catch up with Mando.

I toss it onto the bench as soon as I enter the ship, helping Mando lower the reptilian creature down and tie him up. 

We both sit against opposite walls and watch him, listening to the distant buzzing of the city. It’s a sort of peace. Nothing that I’m used to or can ever get used to, but it’s not so chaotic that I can’t relax.

I’m drifting off to sleep after maybe close to an hour of waiting when Mando speaks.

“Why were you upset?”

The question surprises me, and I don’t know how to respond. Maybe I can take a page from his book and stay quiet, see how he likes it. But I don’t.

“What do you mean?” I ask, even though I know exactly what he means. It irks me that he’s resisted talking to me so much, and decides now that he wants to have a conversation about this, of all things.

“You’ve been off since we landed. What’s wrong?”

“Why do you care?”

“I just...thought you might want to talk about it.”

“I don’t.”

Mando doesn’t pry further and it ends there.

A part of me wants to open up to somebody about everything that happened, finally let it off my chest and share my pain, but I’m sure he’s asking just to try and be polite. He doesn’t actually want to know. So, I keep my mouth shut and eyes trained on the creature in front of me, finding myself somehow enjoying the distracting noise outside.

\- - -

The decoy stirs around an hour later. 

His movement alerts us and both Mando and I jump to our feet, blasters out and aimed at his head.

His beady little eyes open and flick between us, body tensing. He looks especially terrified from Mando’s presence. “What’s your name?” Mando asks.

The Trandoshan doesn’t say anything for a long time, and I can see his arms shaking within the constraints of the rope he’s tied up with.

“What’s your name?” Mando repeats, his voice harsher. He moves the blaster much closer to the Trandoshan's head, making him flinch. Maybe having a Mandalorian around just so he can intimidate bounties into surrender isn’t such a bad thing.

“K-Kel. Kel Hepaas.”

“Kel. Good. Can you tell us what you were doing on that ship?”

“I was-I’m part of the maintenance crew. Cleanup, I mean. Cleanup, not maintenance.”

I raise my eyebrows and exchange a look with Mando. Even though I can’t see his face, I’m sure he’s just as unimpressed by this guy’s shit.

“How about you tell us the real story?”

Kel looks down, eyes darting around. “That-that _is_ the real story. I got hired to clean the ship.”

Mando sighs. I haven’t noticed how much he does that. “How about this, huh?” He reaches into one of his pockets and pulls out a credit worth about 500. I’d be amused by how much Kel’s eyes light up at the sight of it if the circumstances were different. “Tell us the truth and this is yours.”

I can see Kel fighting himself, clearly yearning for the money but hesitant to give up his boss. I shift my weight from foot to foot, growing impatient.

“I can’t tell you.”

“Why not? We won’t give you up. We don’t want to hurt you, we just want to find this one guy, and we’re not even going to kill _him_.” Mando’s gentleness with the Trandoshan is really starting to piss me off. We’ve already wasted so much time-

“Then...he’ll hunt me down and he’ll kill me,” he finally whispers. 

“We’ll let you go and you’ll be free to leave the planet. Vinii won’t find you. He’s powerless in prison.”

“No. You don’t underst-”

“This isn’t working,” I say, and quickly pull out the knife hanging in my belt. Kel cries out in terror as I get down to his level and in a split second have the blade pressed against his throat. Mando is yelling something at me and grabbing my shoulder but I yank it out of his hold, glaring into Kel’s eyes.

It’s pathetic to see a creature that you’d expect to be tough and scared of nothing cowering and on the verge of breaking down.

“Listen to me, you son of a bitch. If you don’t tell us where Dree Vinii went right now, then I will personally torture you until you’re barely conscious, barely _fucking_ breathing-”

“Andi-”

“-and then I’m going to throw your body into a Sarlacc pit and let it finish you off, slowly.”

“Andromeda!”

“What?” I snap, whirling around.

Mando grabs me by the arm, pulls me up roughly, and swings us around so his back is to Kel. I attempt to push past him but he grips my shoulders and holds me in place. “You have to control yourself.”

“This job has gone on for way too long. That piece of shit needs to tell us where Vinii is so we can deliver his ass to Tatooine and get on with our lives.”

“Just calm down, okay?”

“No, I-”

“Calm. Down. Please.”

I’m practically screaming at myself to wrestle out of his grasp, to drive my foot into Kel’s stomach and demand him to answer me, but I don’t. Mando keeps his hands on my shoulders, watching me silently.

“Okay. Okay, I’m calm.”

I feel like I’m about to burst with energy and anger, like I’m a ticking bomb set to blow up any second.

“I know you’re upset. I don’t know why, but you’re emotional.”

“I’m not-”

“Don’t argue. I can see it.” I look away at the back wall, chewing on the inside of my cheek. “We don’t have to stoop down so low. He’s going to tell us where Vinii went. But not through pain.”

His hold on me finally loosens up once he’s sure I’m relaxed enough, and he kneels down in front of Kel. 

“Make it 600 credits,” he tells him. “And freedom.”

Maybe it’s the fact that he’s not as scared of Mando as he is of me now, maybe it’s because Mando’s showing him enough kindness, maybe it’s because he knows we’re not going to kill him, or I've just scared him shitless, but he finally gives in. 

“Okay, okay...first of all...his name isn’t Dree Vinii. It’s...it’s Duimen Vex,” he admits with a heavy sigh. The name sounds familiar to me, I think. I’ve heard it once or twice at some point in my life, but I have no clue who it is.

“Duimen Vex. Alright, good. What else? Where is he right now?”

“In the lower levels.”

“What’s he doing?”

Kel opens his wide mouth to say something, but no sound comes out. Instead, he just shakes his head. 

“Mando, I swear to the Maker I’m going to gut this motherf-”

“It’s fine, that information isn't that necessary anyway. How many friends does he have?” 

“A lot. He has a whole base of operations and there’s a ton of them.”

“Okay. Good. You’re going to lead us down there, exactly to the location.”

“But-”

“You don’t have a choice. If you help us, I’ll set you free with the credits. If not, then...well, maybe we could try out some of Andi's tactics, and I promise you she's not as nice as I am.”

I smirk, knowing he would never participate in something like that. I wouldn’t put it past a Mandalorian, but it’s different with Mando. Kel is too stupid to recognize his empty threats, though, so he nods quickly and agrees.

“Good. We leave soon.”

He gets up and walks past me. “See?”

“It’s not over yet, Mando. Let’s not celebrate until it is.”

\- - -

The lower levels of Hosnian Prime are so jarringly different from the surface.

The second you begin descending into the darkness, it feels like entering an entirely separate dimension. We go down the long staircase until we get to the top floor. I walk across the pathway and lean over the rails, peering down into the crack. There are levels upon levels upon levels of cold, dim alleyways and shops, rotting garbage and mold growing on worn-down buildings, and chilling creatures who look you up and down as if you’re their next meal. It's a whole fucking city on its own.

The air is heavy and the smell of it makes me nauseous. 

I rub my goosebump-covered arms as we cross a narrow bridge onto the other side of the crack, passing a disgusting looking Geonosian. It stares at me as I walk by, saying something to me in some language and snickering.

Mando keeps Kel in front of us, his blaster pressed against his back. Everybody watches us as we walk by. I guess seeing a Mandalorian in a place like this is pretty rare. His being here is probably preventing us from getting jumped and attacked, and I’m thankful for it. As decent of a fighter as I am, I could not hold my own against all of these people.

We go down two more levels, and the more I see, the worse it gets. Half naked women and men are on display in store windows, all looking miserable as they dance for all the gawking assholes on the outside. I look away in utter disgust, but only spot more of these places, more sex clubs and stores selling dangerous and illegal items. I’ve used the black market before, but I’ve never been anywhere so vile.

“Why doesn’t the Republic do something about this?” I ask Mando. “These are...innocent people who are getting exploited for their bodies, and banned items that could cause chaos…”

“It doesn’t affect them. They could care less about what goes on down here, as long as it doesn’t spread to up there.”

“But-”

“I know.”

We pass an alleyway, where a Chiss is whispering something to a petrified human girl, who looks younger than me. The girl is clearly trying to lean away from him, but his blue hand is wrapped around her hips, preventing her from leaving.

My gaze lingers, and I want to stop and help her, I want to kick the Chiss’s ass for harassing the girl. Mando seems to sense it because he halts and looks at me, then at the two in the alley. He sighs softly and nods, backing up to the railing with Kel.

I don’t waste any time. I walk up to them and use all the force I have in my body to shove the Chiss back. He’s unprepared, so I manage to make him stumble quite far back into the alley. While he’s trying to recover, I kick out my foot and it lands right between his legs, causing him to howl in pain and drop to his knees. 

I flip him around and pin him to the ground, his face squished against the cold, wet concrete. I twist his arms behind his back and dig my knee into his spine. Leaning down, I say, “If you harass that girl or anyone else like that ever again, I will find you and put a knife straight through your heart. Do you understand me?”

He’s still whimpering in pain, but I can tell he’s trying to say yes. I get off him, give him one good kick in the ribs, and head back. The human girl is still here, arms hugging herself and tears flowing down her face. 

“Hey, you can go. He won’t hurt you. Get out of here.”

She looks between me and the Chiss, and then scurries off back the way we came. 

“Let’s go,” I say, rejoining Mando. I know I’ve probably made zero difference due to the sheer amount of shit that goes on down here, but if I helped someone get out of a bad situation, I’ll take it.

We eventually turn right, away from the crack and into the interior of the lower levels. It doesn't get any better.

“Okay. I’m not going further. Duimen Vex is...he’s in there.” Kel points to a door a little ahead on the left side of the street. It’s not different from any other door that I’ve seen, nothing to make it look suspicious or out of place. Mando was right. It could take years to find him on this planet without any leads.

“You’re sure?” I ask.

“Yes. I’m sure. You’re going to find a lot of Trandoshans in there, so good luck with that.”

Mando fishes the 500 credits plus one worth 100 out of his pocket and drops it into Kel’s hands. “There. You’re free to do whatever you want. Go.”

Kel breathes a sigh of relief, his legs wobbling. “Oh, thank you, thank you so much. I won’t forget this. Thank you.” He runs off, stuffing his money in his pocket and muttering happily to himself.

“So, what’s the plan?” 

“We try to do it stealthily this time. Take them out one by one. If things go south again, we’ll engage them straight on, but not until it becomes absolutely necessary.” Mando looks down at the underside of his wrist piece, pushing a button and opening up a little compartment. He pulls out a tiny little device and hands it to me. “Attach that to your ear. It’s a communicator as well as a tracking beacon, so if we get separated, we can still find each other.”

“I know what it is, and I don’t appreciate you stealing from my ship,” I joke, securing the communicator to my left ear.

“I grabbed it last minute. Sorry that I didn’t ask.”

“It’s okay.”

I check that each of the iron pieces are held tightly. As broken as the armour is, it’ll provide some safety, and I have a feeling we’ll be needing that.

I glance at Mando and, even in the dim light, I can see he’s looking right at me.

“What?”

He shakes his head, the move almost indistinguishable. “No, it’s...nothing. Let’s just do this. And, Andi. Be careful.”

I give him a nod, and follow him to the door.


	5. Chapter 5

**5**

* * *

It’s locked. 

I don’t know why we expected it to be any different. Vex and his men are clearly not stupid. 

I lean on the wall with my arms crossed as Mando fiddles with the doorknob, but it turns out that it’s not just any lock.

“We need a passcode to get in,” Mando says, sighing. “And...I think…no this is definitely made of Phrik.”

“What?” My eyes widen as I kneel down and inspect the metal for myself. It looks just like any other metal, just like the iron that my armour is made of. “How can you tell?”

“A scan.”

Oh. Obviously. “Well, if this is Phrik then we’re not getting this door open without exploding it. Even then, the door may be gone but the lock will stay intact. It’s that strong.”

“I know.”

We both look around, looking for any possible ways of getting in undetected. I turn my eyes up and notice that there's space between the top of the building and the ceiling, most likely to have room for ventilation shafts.

“Mando, look,” I say, tapping him on the shoulder. “If you boost me up, I can probably crawl in and take out the guards on the other side. They probably won’t have that many watching the door. I don't think they actually believe anyone has the balls to break in and take them.”

"They might be expecting us."

"I think Vex was expecting us to kill the decoy, and so he's not that worried about us finding him anytime soon."

“Are you sure? It’s risky.”

“It’s the only way.”

“Okay, let’s try it.” He squats down slightly against the wall and creates a foothold for me with his interlocked fingers. I grab onto his shoulders, step onto his gloved hands, and he immediately lifts me up high enough for me to grab the top of the building. I have to use his head to push myself up a bit more, which he isn’t too pleased with, but I swing my leg up to the top and roll onto the roof.

I look down at Mando and give him a thumbs up. 

“Try not to make too much noise in there.”

“You’d be worse. You’re heavier.”

Mando ignores my remark and instead looks through a pouch resting against his right side. He calls up to me and throws up an object. I move it closer to a light and see that it’s a universal screwdriver, having tons of different types of heads. 

I have to crouch to not hit my head on the ceiling, but I make my way across the roof, looking for any openings. It’s quite disgusting. There are countless kinds of bugs and rats running around, and water-or some liquid-is dripping steadily from the ceiling, creating large puddles.

Soon enough, I come to a grate. I have to strain my eyes to see where the screws are, and play around with the heads to find one that fits, but I eventually manage to get all four undone and lift the grate.

I carefully drop myself into the vent. It’s old and rusty, and smells of something awful. I’m sure something died here very recently. I get on all fours, trying to ignore all the things my hands are touching, and crawl to the right, back towards the front door, where a dim, green light from a hole is shining into the vent.

The hole drops down into a narrow hallway. I gingerly lay down on my stomach and lower my head through. To the right is a small staircase up and it leads to the front door. To the left is a Trandoshan.

The second I see him, I lift my head back up and panic, but it becomes clear soon that he didn’t spot me. The Trandoshan seems to be the only one guarding the front door, standing against the wall of the hallway where it takes a turn. I sit up on my knees and cup a hand around my mouth.

“Mando?” I whisper. It’s so quiet, but I don’t dare to speak any louder. When he doesn’t reply, I curse and try again.

“Yes?”

In the silence of the vent, his voice seems deafeningly loud and I cringe. 

“Talk quieter. Listen to me, you have to knock on the door.”

“What? Why?”

“Just do it. It’ll distract the guard.”

There’s a period of silence, and then three soft raps echo in the hallway.

I can hear the Trandoshan guard rustling as he moves, muttering something to himself. His footsteps get louder as he approaches the spot under the vent, and I brace myself for when he gets here. My thoughts are roaring, my mind fixating on every little sound that rings through the vent.

Finally, the Trandoshan is standing right beneath me. I don’t waste the opportunity and jump.

I land right behind him, and before he has the chance to register the sound and turn around, I reach in front of him and grab the blaster out of his hand. My foot lifts and I kick him in the back, propelling him towards the stairs. I know he’s not going to stay silent forever, so I straddle his back, pull out my knife, and position it right under his eyes where he can see it.

“Shut up or I’ll kill you, you understand?”

He doesn’t make any noise, so I assume he does. I train my blaster on him and keep my knife at the ready as I force him to get up. 

“Open that door,” I order, nodding up to the top of the stairs.

His hands are up as he slowly makes his way to the door. I watch his movements carefully, but somehow, in my hyper-focus on his arms and body, I completely forget that he has a fully operational tail.

It moves faster than I think. The blaster is whacked out of my grip and pain erupts in my left hand. I don’t have time to recover, though, as the Trandodhan spins around and grabs the arm that’s still holding the knife. Despite the constant surges of pure discomfort and distress, I swing my left arm back and it collides with his eye.

I know he’s about to screech at any second and alert every single living being around, so I drive my foot into his stomach, managing to even do it twice, and all the wind is blown out of him.

He clutches his torso loosely and uses his tail to knock me off my feet, but I’m prepared this time. I jump over it as it sweeps under me, and use the advantage I have while his back is turned towards me. 

I take as big a step as I can, jump and push off the wall, and use both of my feet to kick the Trandoshan into the wall. 

My knife is at his throat and my knee is digging into his back as soon as I’m back on the ground. He must have hit his head pretty hard against the concrete wall because he’s barely trying to resist me.

“I’m gonna repeat myself. Open. That. Door. And if you do,” I add, “I won’t kill you, and I’ll even set you free with some credits. Let's say 500.”

That seems to motivate him.

I’m much more aware this time when I lead him up to the door, my hand still aching from the blow his tail gave it. Slowly, he enters 12 numbers into the lock, and it opens instantly. 

Mando comes in a second later, taking in the two of us. I know I can’t leave The Trandoshan alive, despite what I promised him. It’s too dangerous. I don’t say a word as I plunge my knife into the side of the Trandoshan’s neck. 

His body tenses and his mouth stretches open, but no sound comes out. I let him go and he crumples to the ground, blood spewing out of the wound. I apologize silently and move down the stairs, wondering what Mando is thinking of me right now.

We get to the corner and I peek around it to make sure there’s no one there. We keep descending like this for a little while, turning corner after corner, as if on a spiral staircase. The air is cold and heavy, and some of the lights on the ceiling are so faint that I can barely see what's right in front of me.

Another Trandoshan finally appears, at the bottom of what seems to be the last set of stairs. Mando scans for any life forms nearby, and after confirming that it’s safe, steps out of the cover and throws his Beskar spear straight at the Trandoshan. It pierces him in the chest, and he dies in mere seconds.

“Impressive.”

“Thanks.”

We continue down the hallway, no longer any stairs to climb down. It eventually opens up into a large room, the lights on the ceiling barely reaching the ground. There are more boxes than I could count stacked on top of each other in huge piles everywhere, providing little room to maneuver around. There are Trandoshans milling around, some together, but most of them working in separate areas of the room alone.

We crouch down and enter. Our first target is sitting on a box with his back to us. Mando signals to me that it’s safe. I wrap an arm around him and pull him off, driving my knife into his back as I do.

The space is a lot bigger than I expected it to be. From what I’ve seen of the lower levels of Hosnian Prime, there was no indication that buildings this large could exist. It all seemed to be made up of small, cheap establishments.

The next dozen kills are the same, with both of us taking turns almost showing off how stealthy we’re able to be with our melee skill set. 

As we move further into the room, running and hiding between all the piles, I manage to take a look into some of the boxes, and it’s the strangest variety of things. Some hold weapons, like different types of guns and grenades and bombs, and others contain food, supplies, tools. I can’t understand it.

_What the hell is going on here?_

The kills stop being easy when we get to the middle of the room. We kneel down behind a barricade of boxes and peek out, looking at the three Trandoshans huddled around what seems to be a hologram map of the planet.

I realize that this is where our silent assassinations must end. I shuffle back the way we came and pull a few thermal detonators out of a box. Mando nods at me when I bring them back and show him. He knows there’s no other way. The second they get alerted, we may not be fast enough to execute all of them before they inform everyone else in this compound. Might as well start pushing a hard attack before they get the upper hand.

I take a moment to brace myself before activating the thermal detonator and throwing it at the Trandoshans. I hear a cry of surprise before a ground-shaking explosion rocks the buildings, toppling some boxes. We jump out of the cover, the three Trandoshans dead. 

I pull out my blaster and immediately shoot the next two I see coming out of the smoke towards us, and Mando takes care of three more. One tries to jump out at me from a wall of boxes, but I swing my knife and thrust it up through his skull, killing him right away.

Turning, I see two Trandoshans approach Mando from opposite sides. I’m about to call out and warn him, but he simultaneously manages to launch his spear at one of them and shoot the other, taking them out at the same time. 

_Even more impressive._

We finally reach a door at the end, leading further into the compound. As soon as I hear voices coming towards us, I pick up a grenade from a nearby box and throw it into the hallway. Mando and I both get out of range as another explosion racks the structure.

_I really hope this piece of shit is sturdy enough and won’t collapse on us._

We walk past six dead bodies in the hallway. 

As we continue, the path comes to an intersection, splitting left and right.

“Alright, I’ll go this way,” I say, taking a step to the right. “You go the other way.”

“Wouldn’t it be better for us to stick together?”

I think it’ll be faster if we don’t, but I actually do want to get out of this alive, so I simply agree and lead him down the right.

On a left turn, Mando sticks his wrist out around the corner and sends his little whistling rockets at approaching Trandoshans. 

“I gotta get some of those,” I tell him as we step over all the bodies.

“It’s _my_ thing.”

“Oh, yeah? Well, I don’t have any of the gadgets you do and I’m holding up just as well as you are, if not better, so I really don’t even need them.”

“Funny. Seems to me like I’m the one keeping us alive here.”

I scoff. “You must have hit your head somewhere. You’re clearly delusional.” 

With all our back and forth I have an extremely late reaction to a group of Trandoshans jumping down from a vent in front of us. A flurry of blaster fire comes our way, and Mando jumps in front of me, letting the shots all hit his Beskar.

I’m not risking him getting hurt severely again, though. I step around him and hurl my knife at one of them, watching it cut through and rest in between his eyes. He drops just as Mando pulls another Trandoshan to us with his rope and utilizes him as a shield.

We don’t even need him for very long, as we manage to mow the rest down pretty quickly. 

“Nice work,” I compliment, taking a minute to catch my breath. 

“You, too.”

It all comes to a close after we take out another few dozen Trandoshans and throw a couple more thermal detonators. We enter what seems to be a control room of sorts, judging by the many holograms, displays, and computers. Mando goes in first and shoots the two Trandoshans desperately trying to find something on the computers or type something in.

Then, everything happens really fast. 

Mando is telling me that there’s more coming up from behind us, but at the same time, my eyes land on a figure that’s exiting the room on the other side. When he turns his head to look, just before he disappears out of sight, our eyes lock and I know, I see and I just know that it’s him.

Vex runs, and I bolt after him without thinking about it.

“What are you doing?” Mando yells behind me.

“I have eyes on Vex. Pursuing him now.” I’m forced to talk through the communicator now, as I am quickly out of range to hear him normally.

“Be careful please.”

“Likewise.”

I’m running after Vex up a long flight of stairs, never taking my eyes off him as I pump my arms, taking two at a time and pushing myself to run faster. I want to pull out my blaster and shoot him, but at the pace I’m going, the way he’s moving, I’m afraid I might kill him, and that’s not acceptable. 

He leads me down a maze-like series of hallways with countless rooms on the sides, all the same. They all have boxes and containers full of objects in them, and for what, I don’t know. They’re just sitting here in this huge compound, which is just getting larger and larger by the second.

Finally, Vex busts through a door and we emerge on the outside. The street is lit up in neon colours, and I have to squint through all the light. Vex sprints down the street past all the people hanging out on the sides or walking. Their eyes turn to us as we zoom by.

The streets are narrow, and I’m afraid of getting lost in this vast underground. I know Mando can track me, but what if the device breaks? What if I go so far deep that the signal is lost? 

I push those thoughts away, knowing fear and doubt is the last thing I need right now. 

Vex makes an abrupt turn into an alleyway and shoves a trash can down as he runs by. I almost trip on it but manage to barely jump over and land steadily on my feet, which are beginning to feel unstable.

“Andi. Come in, are you okay?”

I notice how heavily I’m breathing, how much my sides are starting to ache. “I...I’m still chasing him.”

“Copy that, I’m going to head to your location now. Don’t lose him, and don’t die.”

“Thanks for the advice.”

I force my legs to move faster as I watch Vex leap and jump onto the roof of a building. I know for a fact that if I try that, I’ll be too slow and I’ll lose him, so instead I continue down the street. I keep my eyes up, catching glimpses of him here and there as he jumps from roof to roof. I try to stick to the streets that are closest to him and go where he’s going.

Eventually, I feel myself starting to slow down, and I’m frustrated with myself, with my weakness. 

_Come on Andi, you’re so close. Don’t fail now._

As if the Maker himself is watching over me right now, Vex misplaces his foot and trips, sending him flying across the roof and down into the street. He lands with a hard _THUD_ and rolls over, the wall of a shop stopping him. 

He’s fast, and by the time I get to him, he’s already up.

I completely forget about my blaster as I swing my fist and hit him as hard as I can, my energy quickly dwindling. Vex doesn't waste a second and swipes his claws at my hand. He kicks my stomach and I reel back with a gasp, glancing at the long cuts across the skin under my jacket. My little retreat lets him recover and position himself. 

With the last bit of energy I have left and running purely on adrenaline, I charge him. He makes the move to hit me, but at the last moment I duck under his arm and thrust my elbow back into his head. His tail curls and collides with me as I’m moving away from him, bringing me stumbling back to face him.

He grabs my arm with a large hand and lifts me up to his eye level, my joints screaming. I swing my legs and run up his body to knee him in the jaw, enjoying his yelp of pain as he drops me. I try to disregard the pain I feel when I land, crawling away and getting up momentarily. Vex snarls at me and I see the blood flowing down his face. 

The temporary joy I feel is destroyed pretty quickly when he catches my leg in a swing kick that’s meant to deliver a blow to his head. Vex twists my leg so that I’m falling back to the concrete onto my stomach. 

This time, though, I don’t recover. Vex encircles my neck with his fingers and traps my two arms behind my back, rendering me powerless. I thrash in his hold, but I think it’s because I have basically nothing left in me that I can’t do anything.

I hear his soft, devious chuckle in my ear as he squeezes my throat, restricting the air from flowing. At the same time, he uses his mouth to remove the communicator for my ear and spits it out, stomping on it and breaking it to pieces. 

Everything I do is useless, every move I make does nothing to stop him. I refuse to accept that this is how I die, but with every passing millisecond that I can’t breathe, it’s looking more and more like this is it. My vision blurs as I choke on nothing, my lungs burning. 

I feel myself start to pass out when Vex’s grip on my neck suddenly loosens, and I take the biggest inhale of breath in my life. I’m confused until I open my eyes and see Mando standing on the other side of the street, a blue neon light illuminating him and reflecting off his Beskar. I’m so glad to see him, I feel myself smile even as I enter into a fit of coughs.

Mando has his blaster raised and aimed at Vex, and he’s ever so slightly approaching the two of us.

“Mandalorian. We meet again.” His deep and somewhat raspy voice unnerves me.

“You’re not getting away this time, Vex.”

“Oh, really? I was thinking more that you’ll let me go.”

“And why would I do that?”

He laughs, and I almost gag as a waft of foul-smelling air washes over me. “You’re not going to kill me. I know that now. If you had killed the decoy that I left, you wouldn’t have known where to find me. That _kiefess,_ I shouldn’t have trusted him.”

“Let her go,” Mando orders. His voice sounds sturdy, but I recognize a little shake.

“I don’t think so. You’re going to let me walk away. If you shoot me, I will kill her.”

I can feel something drag across my neck and it sends shivers down my spine. Claws. Long, sharp claws probably smearing my own blood around from when he cut me.

“I swear, Vex. I will fucking kill you if you lay a hand on her.”

“Oh, how could I? She’s so pretty.” A wet, cold tongue runs along my neck, and I have never felt more repulsed in my life. I see Mando’s hand tighten around his blaster before I squeeze my eyes shut and let out a small whimper. “You don’t even know who I am, what consequences you will face if you kill me. Trust me, Mandalorian. You don’t need this. I’m going to leave, with this girl, and you’re going to get on the ship you came here on and forget this ever happened. And maybe, someday, if we cross paths again, I’ll show you how I turned this lovely little lady here into a fucking _deyta-"_

A burst of light, and Vex’s body collapses onto the ground beneath me. Mando holsters his rifle and runs over to me, catching me as my legs give out. “I got you, I got you. You’re okay.”

He holds me tightly as I shake, gaping down at Dumien Vex’s limp body. 

“You-you killed him.”

“Yeah. I did.”

“Mando...the credits.”

“I don’t care about the credits. He deserved to die.”

I lean into his arms, letting deep breaths into my lungs and trying to calm my racing heart. 

We stay in this position for a while, silent and unmoving, and I have never been more thankful for anyone else in my entire life.

\- - -

It takes us a long time to haul Vex’s body back to the ship. The sun is setting when we finally return to the surface, and I can't imagine being more overjoyed to see the sky.

We hurry across the hangar, avoiding as many people and gazes as we can. 

I collapse onto the bench as soon as we enter _The Casstian._ I’m so fucking glad to be back in the safety of my ship. I don't say anything to Mando about what he did to Vex. A part of me is disappointed that we won't receive as many credits even though we worked so fucking hard for them, but another part makes me respect and like Mando far more than before.

I know what Vex meant when he said "deyta". The word, in his Trandoshan language, means "whore". Mando clearly understood as well, pissing him off enough to blast Vex straight in the head, and I will never forget what a great sense of security rushed over me when he did.

Mando places Vex against the far wall near the bathroom and then sits down next to me. I let him take off my armour, watching as he does it so carefully and trying not to accidentally hurt or disturb me in any way.

I wince as I struggle to remove my jacket, all my scrapes and bruises throbbing at every movement. Mando pulls his gloves off and takes my bleeding arm into his hands, leaning down to get a good look at it. His bare skin is touching mine, and as much as it is strange, I love the gentleness of it, the delightful tingles the contact spreads through my body.

“Mando, I’m fine,” I tell him, finding myself smiling. “It’s not that bad. I’m just tired.”

“It looks really bad.”

“It's just a few cuts, I’ll survive.”

“Well, you helped me when I got injured in the explosion on Tatooine. Let me help you right now.”

I want to protest but I know it’s useless. He’s already retrieving the medical kit and digging in it for the disinfectant. 

This is really bizarre. We were in the same position, just flipped, less than two days ago. I didn’t think I’d still be with him at this point when I first offered to work together. I thought we’d be in and out in no time at all. However, despite the fact that he’s tested my patience every minute we’ve been together, I can’t help but admit that I don’t even mind him being here. It’s...nice. It’s different.

“So, tell me about your family.”

I actually laugh out loud. “Wow. I’m getting a major case of déjà vu right now.”

“Come on, try it. It’ll distract you.”

I want to humour him, say something funny to entertain him as he’s pouring the liquid onto an old handkerchief he found.

But then my mind skips to what happened in Hosnian Prime today, way before all the chaos in the lower levels. I think about all the memories of my past coming back to me so quickly, so mercilessly at the sight of an object, that I almost couldn’t handle it.

Maybe I should talk about that. Maybe I should finally get it together and share.

“Hey, remember today? When you said I was off?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you want to know why?”

“I asked you, and you said you didn’t want to talk about it.”

“Well, now I do.”

I gasp slightly as he presses the wet handkerchief against my skin. It’s tender, and not nearly as rough as when I was helping him with the huge gash in his torso. 

“Tell me, then.”

I sigh, reminding myself that it's okay, that’s talking about it will make it easier. It’ll alleviate so much of the weight and pain I’ve carried for way too long by myself.

“When I was little, I lived on a small, wild planet with barely any people. Jenosia. It was...fantastic. The village people were kind and my father ran a successful restaurant. I played outside all day in the woods, chasing after birds and picking flowers. It was heaven, Mando.”

I don’t even notice when he switches to tend to the other hand, the one that the first Trandoshan guard injured. 

“But then...one day, a group of raiders invaded our village and ransacked it completely. It was a nightmare. They shot people who tried to protect their homes and businesses, took all our belongings, threatened to take the children. I remember...I remember wanting to run into the woods because I knew it was safe, I knew the nature would protect us. But my parents refused, choosing to stay behind and guard the restaurant. I was left at home, hiding under the floorboards in this secret safe room we made.”

I pause, feeling tears gather in my eyes. I realize Mando stopped taking care of my hands, and he’s now looking straight at me from where he’s sitting, waiting and listening. I feel slightly embarrassed that I’m allowing myself to be so vulnerable in front of him, but I just resume, barely having the energy to care.

“After hours and hours of waiting, I felt like it was safe to go. I climbed out of the house and ran to the village, calling for my parents until my throat hurt and I couldn’t scream anymore. It was so silent, and not like the good, peaceful silence of the forest. It was a heavy, infested silence. I could feel the despair, the death and the darkness.

“Eventually, I found my parents dead. Both of them, in front of my father’s establishment. The stun gun that we used today was in his motionless hands. At least my parents died together. I’m never going to stop regretting not saying anything to them before they left. I wish I could go back. I’ve put it aside for so many years, I’ve not thought about it and have tried to forget. But...I can’t. I don’t think there’s a way to forget something like that.”

We’re both still and silent for a while as the story sinks in. I take a long, deep breath, glad to have finally spoken to someone about all of this. 

“My parents died too, when I was little.”

My eyes snap to him, not believing that he’s willing to tell me something so sensitive. All this time, he’s been so closed off and guarded.

“They were protecting me from an attack as well, and...I got rescued by Mandalorians. They took me in and raised me as their own.”

“Look at us,” I say, giving out a humourless laugh. “We make quite a pair.”

He nods, the movement almost imperceptible. “Yes, we do.”

I let my gaze linger on his visor, wondering if his eyes are staring down at my hands or at my face. I wish I could tell. It’s so hard with him.

But I think I get my answer. I can feel my heartbeat start to pick up a bit as he runs his thumb softly against the back of my hand, avoiding all the cuts but making goosebumps go up my arm. He makes tiny circles back and forth, his soft skin dragging against mine.

It’s been so long since anyone has touched me like this, and I find myself not wanting it to end. 

Eventually, though, he clears his throat and stands up, packing up the medicine kit. I take a look at my hands. They’re both no longer caked in blood, and the one with the deep cuts stings but looks a lot better than before. "Thank you."

Mando faces away from me as he puts away the kit back into a storage unit. I lean my head back against the wall and close my eyes. A wave of exhaustion passes over me as I yawn. I don’t even want to lie down or get more comfortable, I’m ready to fall asleep right here and now.

“It’s...Din, by the way.”

My eyebrows knit together as I open my eyes back up and look at him. The sentence comes so out of nowhere, and I have no idea how to process it.

“What?” 

He turns around, and I can just tell he’s looking me right in the eyes.

“Din. Din Djarin. That’s my name. You...wanted to know. Earlier.”

He leaves me alone in the hull, stepping into the cockpit to...probably get away from a conversation, but my lips spreading into a small smile, and for the first time in a long time, I feel truly content. 

_Din._


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Changed the number of credits they were offered for the job from 5000 to 50,000 :)

**6**

* * *

I fall asleep with his name echoing in my head. 

When I wake up, it takes me a moment to realize that the engines are silent and the ship is still. I press my hand against the walls, not feeling any vibrations.

I sit up and swing my legs off my bed, which I don’t remember getting into before I passed out. My body delightfully pops in various places as I stretch. All my muscles are sore, and I want nothing more than to lay back down and sleep for another day.

However, I force myself up and shuffle to the hull.

Mando - Din - is sitting against the wall, hands folded in his lap and legs outstretched across the floor. His chest rises and falls softly, and I stop to look at him, just for a little. My mind flashes back to the feeling of his arms around me on Hosnian Prime and the way his thumb traced my skin when we got back on the ship, creating sensations I haven’t felt in a long time. So foreign, yet so pleasant and irresistible.

Despite that, however, I’m almost disgusted when I realize that I am actually starting to like him.

I want to brush the feeling off, blame it on my many years of travelling alone and not having more than a quick fuck every now and then to make up for the lack of physical connection. But, I don’t dismiss it, and I don’t even think I want to.

I’ve known Din for less than a week, I only just learned his name probably not even 12 hours ago, and I’m already getting attached, even though for nearly 15 years now I’ve been avoiding such feelings for anybody that I meet.

_Pathetic. Get a hold of yourself._

My gaze drifts to the body of Dumien Vex. I’d rather not think about him, though, so I quietly retrieve a change of clothes and tiptoe over Din’s legs to step into the small bathroom, deciding to shower and clean myself up.

I relax under the warm water running down my skin and wash away the remains of dried blood - both mine and the Trandoshans’ we’d killed. I spend 10 minutes just standing under the water until I make myself get out and finish up with everything else.

Before I leave, I change into a clean outfit and throw away the old blood-stained clothes.

Din is awake when I get out. He comes into the hull from my room just as I do with two packs of rations in his hands, and passes them both to me.

“Hi.”

“Hey.” 

While he uses the bathroom, I go up to the cockpit and look out the window. We’re on Tatooine. Din must have flown the ship here while I slept. It’s sometime in the afternoon, with the two suns sitting high up amid the vast light blue.

I open up my rations and eat in silence, wondering what’s going to happen now that Din and I are done.

_What’s Din going to do? Where is he going to go? He doesn’t have a ship, he’s alone. He’s not going to be able to even remotely afford a new one with the much smaller amount of credits we’re going to receive for delivering Vex dead. Maybe I can give him a ride somewhere, drop him off where he’s better off._

_Or...maybe I should get him to stay._

I can physically feel myself frown at the thought. It’d be absolutely ridiculous to suggest to Din that maybe he can stay with me for a little longer, and for what?

 _Why would he want that? Why would_ I _want that?_

_Maker, what is he doing to me?_

“How are you feeling?’ Din asks, interrupting my racing thoughts as he steps into the cockpit. 

“Good, I feel good. Thanks for flying us to Tatooine. I’m sorry for blacking out.”

“Don’t worry about it. Let’s just go and get Vex to Nhiff. I already sent him a message when we land that we’ll be bringing him in today.”

I crumple up the empty packet and toss it into a garbage can I have built into the wall. 

“Did you tell him he’s dead?”

“No.”

“Great. I hope he likes surprises.”

I leave Din alone for a few minutes so he can eat, standing at the open door and basking in the warm air flowing over me from the outside. 

_Does he even like me at all? How would he react if I told him I’d like for him to stay with me for longer until he figures out what he’s going to do and how he’s going to get around? Would it really be that absurd? Would he even consider it? Knowing him, it’ll be a straight-up ‘no’. Or just nothing._

Once Din is done, he lifts Vex’s body and slings him over his shoulder, ready to go.

Nhiff gave Din coordinates to deliver Vex to a location that’s not the cantina, of course, so he leads the two of us through rows and rows of the same round, sand-coloured houses and past tons of people who stare at us curiously as we pass by. I’ve spent a lot of time on Tatooine, but I’m always surprised to see the conditions some people are living in, the buildings that they manage to turn into homes and businesses. 

We finally come to a stop before one of the bigger houses of all of them, the dome roof towering over us and a small wooden fence surrounding the estate. I take a deep breath as Din knocks on the door.

The way Nhiff’s expression drops when he opens the door and takes in the sight in front of him is almost funny. Neither Din nor I say anything as the Rodian stares at Vex’s motionless body hanging over Din’s shoulder.

Eventually, he grumbles a low “Come in” and leads us into a circular room with a table in the middle. Din shrugs Vex off and lays him on the floor, his body taking up a good portion of the space. 

“I thought I made it clear that I wanted Vinii back here alive. Not dead, alive.”

“There were...complications. And his name isn-”

“Complications? I trusted both of you with a job that pays for 50,000 credits and you let some ‘complications’ get in the way?”

Din and I exchange a look. 

“I’m not paying you 50,000 credits. 10,000 at most.”

“10,000?” I exclaim. All that work for a measly 10,000 credits that I could have easily obtained anywhere else? “With all due respect, Nhiff, D-Mando and I worked our assess off chasing this piece of shit to fucking Hosnian Prime and murdering dozens of his friends just to get close to him. Taking him out was the only option. I’m not walking away with 10,000 credits. Make it at least 30,000.”

Nhiff sighs in exasperation, looking down at Vex.

“20,000. Final offer.” He opens a chest that’s sitting on a counter on the opposite side of the room and pulls out a handful of credits. “Take them. But be mindful, I’m not hiring either of you for another job, so don’t even ask.”

Neither of us says a word as we leave, not even bothering to tell Nhiff that ‘Vinii’ was a fake name and what he was doing on Hosnian Prime. 

“Can you believe him? I know we delivered Vex dead, but...what does it matter? We caught a dangerous criminal either way.”

“That’s the way it works sometimes with these guys. You either do it exactly the way they want you to, or you don’t get the reward.”

I know this, but it still pisses me off. I huff, inspecting the credits. I don’t even care, at the end of the day. I’m just glad to put Vex behind me forever.

\- - -

We find a small, comfortable outdoor cafe with not very many people. The buzzing of the city is still persistent, even though we’ve strayed from the centre considerably. I pull some hair out of my face that sticks to my forehead, the heat getting awfully close to unbearable today. I seriously think Din is part machine, because there’s no way he can still be alive under all his clothes and armour.

Din and I split the 20,000 credits equally, and I pocket them with a sigh. An Azumel brings me a plate of dried fruit that I ordered, and I immediately pay him, telling him we won’t be long.

“Want me to save you some?’ I ask Din, feeling bad that he has to watch me eat but doesn’t get to do so himself.

“No, I’m fine.”

I sink my teeth into a piece and chew it off, a bittersweet taste spreading in my mouth.

“Thanks for not saying my name back there, by the way. At Nhiff’s. It wouldn’t have mattered that much, but...it’s kind of special. It’s not something I throw around carelessly. Only two friends of mine know my name, and they only learned it by accident.”

 _People close to him don’t know his name, and the two other people that do he didn’t even mean to tell. But he did mean to tell_ me, _someone he’s known for a mere couple of days. How peculiar._

“You have friends?”

“Yeah.” He cocks his head. “Do _you?_ ”

“Ha, ha. Very funny. As a matter of fact, I do.” I don’t. “But, okay, your name’s a special thing, right? So, does that mean _I’m_ special?” I ask, raising my eyebrows at him with a sly smile.

He’s silent for a moment, and I think I’ve gone a bit too far when he says, “Sure. If that makes you feel any better about yourself.”

“Fuck you,” I respond, and he laughs softly.

 _It’s quite a beautiful thing to hear him laugh,_ I think, _to see someone so stoic and guarded let go a little bit and loosen up._

“So. What are you going to do now?” 

Din sits back. “I...really don’t know.”

My eyes don’t meet his as I think, wanting to say it, to ask him if he might think about it, but I’m far too nervous for some reason.

_What’s wrong with me? Just fucking ask._

“You sure you’re going to be okay on your own?”

The disappointment I feel is a little jarring, but I mask it with a smile. “I can handle myself, you know that.”

“Well, I’m always saving you one way or another.”

“If you’re talking about what happened yesterday, let me inform you that I was kicking Vex’s ass before he got the upper hand and you showed up, and I bet I looked damn good doing it.”

“Yeah. I bet you did.”

I almost choke on my dried piece of Jogan fruit, his words cutting through me like a knife. I look up at him, but he’s fiddling with his wrist pieces. 

_Shit, Maker._

_Well, he seems to not hate me. He seems to not mind my presence. And, he doesn’t have anything better occupying him anyway. What’s he going to do, stay here on Tatooine? He can come with me and I’ll help him until he’s in a good place, and then we’ll part ways._

_Forever._

_Because I can’t let what’s brewing in me to continue._

“Uh, Din?” 

He stops moving at the mention of his name. It’s the first time I’ve said it directly in front of him, and probably the first time he’s heard it said by anyone in a long time.

“Yes, Andi?”

“I was wondering, and you don’t have to accept this, but…” 

He waits patiently, watching me struggle to get the words out. Part of me thinks he knows exactly what I’m about to ask, because I’m probably making it so fucking obvious, and is currently trying to come up with the best way to decline.

“Do you want to, I don’t know, stay?” I put my hands under the table so he doesn’t see me rubbing them together, wringing my fingers, picking at my skin and nails as I await his response.

“Stay?” his voice is soft, contrasting dramatically with how solid and monotone it usually is. 

“Yeah. You...don’t seem to have anything important to do right now, unless of course, you do, in which case I’m wrong-”

“No, I-”

“But I just think that you don’t have enough credits for a ship right now, and you may not be able to sustain yourself, so I can help you until you’re good and...back on your feet. You know?”

“Andi.” It takes him a while to continue, and the anticipation of his words is killing me. I really don’t know what’s wrong with me. I haven’t felt this flustered and nervous about something in way too long. I shift around in my seat, terribly uncomfortable. “That’s a very generous offer, but-”

“You’re going to have to say no.” I look down at my fruit, no longer hungry.

“I’m sorry. It’s not that I haven’t enjoyed working with you these last few days. It’s just-”

“You!”

Din gets cut off by a rumbling voice that startles both of us, and we whirl our heads around to face the entrance to the cafe. There stands a giant creature, a Besalisk, I think it’s called. His bottom two large arms are crossed and folded over a protruding stomach, while one of the top ones is holding a pistol, the head of it loosely pointing in our direction. Behind the Besalisk stand two IG droids, their tall, skinny bodies reaching to be almost taller than the hulking man in front of them.

Din and I slowly get up from our chairs. I go to take out my blaster but realize with a pang in my chest that I left all my weapons on the ship. Din is the only one that can do anything against them if they start shooting, and I gravitate towards him.

“You two are the ones that killed Duimen Vex. Is that right?”

Neither of us responds. I don’t know what these bounty hunters - by the looks of them - want, but it doesn’t seem like they’re very friendly.

“What’s it to you?” Din finally says, curling a protective arm around me and pushing me to stand behind him.

“You don’t even know what you did, do you?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand-”

“Do you know who Duimen Vex was?”

“Just some lowlife, useless thief. He deserved nothing less than what he got.”

Din’s answer is quick, and I can visibly see the way that comment is succeeding in pissing the Besalisk off. His fingers curl into huge fists and he lets out a low growl.

“Foolish Mandalorian with his foolish girl. You have no idea what you got yourselves into.”

It all happens in a split second.

The Besalisk raises his pistol at us at the same time that Din unholsters his and shoots.

Din’s shot misses by millimeters, and now his Beskar is suddenly getting hit over and over again as the IG droids pull out their guns and three of them charge towards us.

I pull Din back through the cafe and into the street, civilians crying out and hiding as blaster shots start flying out from behind us. Din turns around multiple times to try and get a shot but I just yell at him to keep moving and to go faster.

I’m angry at myself for not bringing my blaster out with me, for being so irresponsible. Without my armour or a weapon to defend myself with, I’m too dangerously exposed. 

We make tight turns and push past people, screaming out apologies as we run by.

At the hangar bay, we are met with a Duros and another IG droid guarding _The Casstian._ Din and I duck behind a wall on the side of the space as they begin their assault. 

“Here, take the blaster and deal with the droid. I’ll take the other one.”

I nod and grab his gun, feeling an inkling of security.

He leans towards one side while I face the other, peeking out slightly to get a glance of the IG droid. It’s advancing towards our hiding spot, and I know I have to lead it away from Din. 

My eyes lock onto the next pillar ahead of me and dive onto the ground, rolling across the open space towards it. The IG droid doesn’t hit me, but that’s probably because he wasn’t expecting me to jump out into the open. He’ll be ready next time. 

I wait for his metallic steps to get as close to me as I dare, and then step out from behind the pillar and kick his middle with all the force I can muster. He falls onto the ground with a clatter, and I wrench the blaster out of his hand.

The droid tries to get up, but I don’t allow him the chance and shoot him through the head.

I look over across the hangar as Din impales the Duros with his spear, the shiny metal coming away drenched in blood.

We both rush on board my ship, closing the door just as the Besalisk and the other two IG droids are entering the hangar bay. I power up the engines and take off the second it’s possible, blaster shots ricocheting off the exterior of the vessel.

“There’s a ship following us, a small shuttle. Jump to hyperspace,” Din says, his voice urgent. I activate the outer rear shields as we exit the planet and the black void of space surrounds us.

“Where are we going?”

“I don’t know, anywhere. Just get us out of here.”

My fingers dance around the display as I enter coordinates into the hyperspace navigation tab. As soon as the computer starts beeping, telling me that a spacecraft is nearing ours, I pull the lever on the side and the stars around us elongate until we’re in a silent tunnel of bright, blue light. The beeping stops.

I fall back into my chair, looking at Din with a confused expression on my face. He shrugs his shoulders and I shake my head, closing my eyes.

I guess we’re not finished with Vex yet.

Maybe not for a long time.


	7. Chapter 7

**7**

* * *

** Very, very slight NSFW at the end! **

In two days, we visit seven different planets and leave each one within 12 hours of arrival. 

It’s really beginning to seem like every single dirty pirate and bounty hunter in the galaxy is out for revenge for killing Dumien Vex, who apparently is far, far more important than either of us thought. He wasn’t just some criminal. Even random civilians on the streets who recognize us somehow don’t hesitate to attack with whatever they have on them.

We’ve tried to limit casualties to an absolute minimum, but when an entire mob of people is coming at you - more than once on more than one planet - with weapons and harmful intentions, it’s a little difficult for some individuals to not come out okay.

We’re just exiting hyperspace after barely escaping a horde of Nikto’s on the planet Derris, who almost managed to shoot down my ship before we made the jump. My mind is still playing back the alarm screaming that a cannon was firing at us, and I’m still finding myself checking the outer scanners, paranoid that they’ve somehow been able to follow us.

Din is staring out the window as we float through outer space, the stars lazily moving past us. I just finished cleaning the hull up, getting rid of all the random shit and trash laying around and creating space to sit and walk. My back is aching and my eyes are closing, the stress of the past two days getting to me. 

I tap my display a few times to check the status of the ship and see that we have barely any fuel.

“Din,” I say quietly, a yawn interrupting me. “We’re...we’re almost out of fuel.”

He doesn’t say anything, and his head is still facing away.

“Din?”

“Mm.”

“What are you thinking about?”

“Nothing.”

I don’t know if he’s trying to be cold or not, but I’m somewhat used to his moody disposition at this point, so I ignore him. 

I adjust myself in the passenger seat and search the map for nearby planets. “Naboo’s close. We can go there.”

“Naboo is too populated.”

“Yeah, but...it doesn’t have a high concentration of bounty hunters and fugitives. We can easily find some quaint, little village and try to lay low for a while.”

“Okay” is all he says after a while of pondering on it. I can’t help but feel like he’s angry at me for something, and it concerns me more than his feelings probably should.

“I hope you don’t think it’s my fault for whatever’s going on. I...never wanted this.”

He nods, and I can see it even though it’s almost imperceptible. “I know.”

**Day 3**

We’re able to find a quiet village on Naboo in a field surrounded by the vast, luscious forest. The people are kind and don’t mind letting us stay in an empty hut on the outskirts of the town for a very cheap price. Nobody seems to recognize us, either, which, after the couple of days we’ve had, is a fucking blessing.

There’s only one bedroom, we find. Din immediately gives it to me, and even though I protest, he doesn’t budge, saying how he doesn’t mind sleeping on the floor in the main room.

It’s quite comfortable, actually. I thoroughly enjoy the peaceful sounds of nature from the outside, but I also appreciate the extremely welcoming space, as small as it is. It reminds me a lot of my old home on Jenosia, and I’m already yearning to go take a walk through the woods. 

As night falls outside, I stand in the doorway of our new home, staring at the gorgeous sky. There are more shades of pink, orange, purple, and blue than I can count as the sun sets on Naboo. The soft breeze ruffles my hair and I inhale the sweet scent of grass and flowers.

_Oh, Maker, how I’ve missed this. This is thousands of times better than planets like Hosnian Prime will ever be._

Din is removing his Beskar and other accessories behind me, ready to settle in for the night. When I walk up to him, he’s muttering under his breath and fiddling with a communicator, larger than the ones we used on Hosnian Prime.

“What are you doing?”

He groans, tossing the device on the floor. “I’m trying to get a message out to a friend. Boba. He’s back on Tatooine, and I thought I could get a transmission to him, see what he knows about Dumien Vex, but...signal’s too weak out here. It’s no use.”

“Oh. Well, we can go back to Tatooine after a bit. It might be too risky right now.”

“Yeah.” He adjusts the pillow that we found in the cupboards and positions himself against the wall, stretching his legs out.

“You know,” I say, sitting down next to him on the wooden floor, “You can always sleep on the ship.”

He pushes his sleeves up his arms, and I can’t look away from the sight of so much exposed skin, golden and almost shining in the light of the lantern hanging above us. His arms are clear of any hair, and it makes me wonder why Din shaves at all if no one is ever going to see enough of him to notice and appreciate it. 

_Does he have facial hair? What if he has a beard? Or does he shave it off once it gets a little too prickly, or what if he likes a little bit of stubble and keeps it for himself? Does he give himself haircuts when his hair gets too long?_

The thought of Din adjusting his appearance the way he likes it, despite the fact that no one can even see him, is weirdly...endearing. 

“I could, but...I won’t be able to get here in time in case we get attacked. I need to stay and protect you.”

“As much as that warms my heart, Din,” I say sarcastically, “I don’t need your protection. You know that. And the ship is right outside. Nothing’s going to happen.”

“I just want you to be safe. We’re in this together now.”

Those words hold so much weight, and as much as I really quite like the idea of having an excuse to spend more time with him and learn about his life, the extremely dangerous situation that’s shoving us together is nothing short of frightening, and probably not the best circumstances for any kind of relationship building.

“I...really appreciate it. But you don’t have to stay. You can always just...go off on your own.”

“I know.”

I don’t know what to say to that, so after a moment of silence I wish him a good night and close myself off in my room, wanting nothing more than to wake up from all of this madness and realize that it’s all been a wild, unusual dream.

**Day 5**

The knee-deep shit that Din and I are in certainly isn’t a dream, but being completely surrounded by the nature of Naboo sure feels like one.

As I stroll through the field in which the village is located, I spin in a slow circle, admiring the way the sun makes everything shine. The rich green blades of grass sway slowly in the light breeze, and the leaves on the towering trees rustle noisily but softly above me.

I watch bugs of all sorts fly around the bushes and groups of colourful flowers, wild animals grazing and basking in the sun. It’s a planet full of such _life._

This is the third time since we got to Naboo that I’ve gone out on a long walk. There’s nothing else for me to do. The pure idleness is making me feel trapped, like I’m claustrophobic and confined in a tiny box with no way out. I have to do _something,_ and this is the perfect thing.

Din is restless, too, although he’s dedicated a lot of his time here so far to scouting out the village and seeing if there’s anywhere we can get fuel for my ship.

I told him it was a bad idea, that someone might possibly recognize us, because, at this point, it’s quite clear that pictures of us are all over the galaxy and it’s entirely probable that everybody has seen what we look like.

But, Din, being Din, obviously didn’t listen. 

I spend the whole day outside, not caring that sweat is quickly staining my shirt under my arms, not caring about anything but the environment around me.

My favourite part is when I stumble onto a small lake in the middle of the woods. The still water shimmers magically in the sunlight, and it’s warm when I dip my hand in and wave it around.

I sit on a rock by the shore for a long time. I really can’t tear my eyes away from everything.

\- - -

I must fall asleep because the next thing I know I’m stretched out across the rock and the sun is setting. The forest is quieter as I do my best to track back to the field, and the eerie feeling that the quickly descending darkness creates unnerves me to the point where I’m full-on sprinting through the trees. I constantly turn my head and look all around, half-expecting some predator to jump out at me. 

It’s worse that I know nothing about what creatures reside in Naboo’s forests. Or maybe that makes it better. I’m not actually sure.

After navigating my way back to the field for maybe an hour, I finally see the distant lights of the village, and they’re like a beacon in the middle of the nothingness all around me. Breathing a huge sigh of relief, I make a beeline to _The Casstian,_ beside which our little hut is sitting alone. Light is emanating from the inside, but Din is sitting on the porch stairs, his leg bouncing up and down.

As soon as I come into the light of the lantern that’s hanging above the door, he jumps to his feet and approaches me.

“Where the hell have you been?” he yells, his voice startling me.

“I fell asleep.”

“In the woods? Alone?”

“Din, I’m okay-”

“Fuck, Andi…” He turns in a slow circle, lacing his fingers behind his helmet. “I thought you were gone. I thought you were dead. I thought...hell, I don’t know, I thought they found us.”

I can sense the distress in his voice, and I don’t know whether to feel grateful that he’s so worried about me or irritated that once again he doesn’t have confidence that I can handle myself.

“Din, we’re safe here. We’re safer here than we were on any other planet. I was alright, no one was going to find me in the woods.”

He’s facing away from me, looking down. I grab his arm and pull, forcing him to turn towards me. I take his hands, and look straight up into his visor, wanting more than ever to be able to look directly into his eyes.

“I’m okay. We’re going to be okay here. There is nothing to worry about.”

Din tilts his head down and studies our hands wordlessly. 

We stay still for a minute or two, breathing, holding each other. I can’t see the features of his helmet as well as he can probably see those of my face, as he has his back to the light. He can see my eyes skipping left and right, guessing where his are behind his visor. He can see the little crease between my eyebrows, and he can see the light freckles that litter my cheeks. 

Eventually, his shoulders rise and fall with a sigh, and he pulls his hands away from mine.

“Okay. I’m glad you’re okay. Just...don’t do that again.”

“I won’t,” I say, but he’s already going inside, leaving me alone. I wrap my arms around myself, taking one last look into the gloom behind me before following him.

We switch sleeping locations tonight in order to give Din a chance to get some proper rest. The floor is actually quite comfortable, but I toss and turn and lie awake for a long time.

Thinking...

**Day 6**

“Did you find where we could get some fuel?” I ask the next morning after he comes back from showering on the ship.

“Yeah. The people in the village are willing to sell part of their reserve.”

“Great.”

I take my turn on _The Casstian_ , and after cleaning myself up and washing away all the sweat and grime from yesterday, I put away my long dark pants and retrieve a pair of old shorts. I haven’t worn these in so long, but they still fit me. 

I notice the way Din’s gaze lingers on my legs for a second longer than usual.

“Going somewhere?” he asks, reaching behind his head to scratch his neck. 

“In case you haven’t noticed, it’s warm on this planet.”

“Right.”

**Day 8**

After almost two weeks of us being here **[AUTHOR’S NOTE: STAR WARS WEEKS ARE ONLY 5 DAYS]** , Din decides that he wants to go to Theed. 

“Are you crazy?” I exclaim, watching him put his Beskar on. “You didn’t want to come here because the planet is too populated, but now you’re saying that you want to go to the damn capital city?”

“I have a friend who can help us. I was able to reach her and she’s here now.”

“Then I’m coming with you.”

“No,” he says firmly. “I’m taking one of the village speeders, meeting her, and taking her right back. You need to stay here and watch the ship.”

“But-”

“Andi.”

I know he’s made up his mind, and arguing with him is useless. I can always follow him, but maybe he’s right. Staying back and making sure nothing happens is important.

“Fine, but I swear, Din. Please be careful.”

“I’m always careful. I’m not you.”

“Fair enough,” I say with a chuckle.

After slinging his bandolier across his body, he gets up and leaves the hut, the sun reflecting brilliantly off his Beskar. He stops as he steps onto the path that leads to the village.

“Don’t take too much time.”

“I’ll try not to.”

“And again, stay safe.”

Din turns his head to look at me but doesn’t say a word. I’m used to it by now, but what I’m not used to is the way his gloved hand slowly reaches up to touch my bare cheek. I gasp, flinching from the contact, but not moving away. The backs of his fingers gently graze my skin, and my eyes keep flicking between his visor and the dirt on the ground, my mind in disarray. I keep my hands at my sides, not knowing how to react.

On one hand, it’s extremely strange, especially coming from him. On the other, it’s the most welcoming feeling in the world.

But then, he’s gone, his figure moving quickly down the road and out of sight.

\- - -

Din comes back a few hours later, just as the sun is passing the half-day mark. 

I can hear the speeder coming from when it’s a few hundred standard meters away, and I run out onto the path just as a shape comes into view in the distance, a cloud of dust gathering and expanding behind it.

It gets louder as he gets closer, and I smile when I recognize the familiar outline of his round helmet. As he’s nearing, though, I spot someone else on the speeder with him, but I can’t make out their features until they’ve stopped the vehicle and the person is reaching out their hand to shake mine.

She has medium-length dark hair, and a simple but quite lovely set of teal and black armor. She beams at me, the small rebellion tattoo under her left eye shifting up with the movement. Her strong build contrasts greatly with my slimmer one, and I immediately find myself wondering if I can take her in a battle.

“Cara Dune,” she says, her voice sounding solid but friendly.

I take her hand. “Andromeda Arwen. Call me Andi.”

“Pretty name.”

“Thank you.”

Din leads her inside our hut, where she settles down on the floor and accepts a cup of water that he offers her.

Din sits down across from her, and I do the same right next to him. Cara’s eyes flick between the two of us, and her blank expression makes it difficult to tell what she’s thinking. Is she judging? Curious? 

“How’s working for the New Republic going?” Din asks.

“Oh, it’s...it’s something, I guess. Not as exciting as the rebellion days, but I don’t mind it. Anyway, we haven't gotten any reports regarding you two, so if you're not hiding from the Republic, then what's the situation? What are you doing all the way out here?"

“What do you know about Dumien Vex?”

Cara stops and gives Din a puzzled look. “Why?”

“He's dead. Andi and I killed him.”

The way Cara’s eyebrows fly up to her forehead, the way she leans forwards with her mouth hanging slightly open...it's the most emotion I've seen from her, and that scares me. “You're serious?” 

Din and I glance at each other. “Yes. It was for a bounty. Well, the Guild didn’t want him dead, but…”

Cara scoffs. “No fucking way. I’m not surprised you’re having to hide here in the middle of nowhere, then."

“Why? Why is Vex so important?” I ask. Finally, some fucking answers. 

“Where to even begin? He’s one of the biggest suppliers in the entire galaxy.”

“Suppliers of what?”

“Everything. Food, tools, weapons, building materials, anything you can think of. He ran a business that’s based on stealing things from others and selling them to other criminals, poor civilians, and even bounty hunters in the galaxy. He’s earned a lot of respect over the years for what good he’s done for dying innocent people, for ruthless hunters and dangerous criminals.”

All I can think of is all those boxes back in the compound on Hosnian Prime, each filled with seemingly random things. Now I realize they weren’t so random after all. 

“So...now that everyone knows that we killed Vex, they’re angry?”

“Of course they are. You got rid of their main source of food, weaponry, things they got for way, way cheaper than they usually would find them for. You might have doomed a lot of people that relied on what he was able to give them. He ran a galaxy-wide business. You pissed off...billions.”

I don’t know what to say. I’m not sure what I was expecting, to be honest, but the answers Cara is giving us are not helping to ease my concerns in the slightest, and any hope of getting off Naboo and moving on with our lives is dwindling.

“You’re telling me he managed to lead such a large-scale operation with just a few dozen men?”

Cara shrugs. “He always kept his team small. It was harder to catch him and good for ensuring that only the ones working for him knew the location of his bases where all the goods were kept, so that no one would come and steal them. He always changed his name, too, so not many people know of his real identity. I’m...honestly shocked you’ve never even heard of him.”

“I have,” I say, finally understanding why Dumien Vex’s name sounded so familiar when I first heard it back on Hosnian Prime. “I mean, I guess I wasn’t aware of just how prominent he was. I just heard his name a few times in some back alleys, but nothing more than that.”

“Well. I don’t know what to tell you. Consider yourselves screwed.”

“Thanks for the advice, Cara,” Din says, sighing heavily.

“Always welcome, Din.”

My gaze snaps to her at the mention of his name, and I piece together that this was one of the friends he said who knew it. One of two other people in the galaxy that was aware of who he was. I want to not mind, because it honestly doesn’t matter, but the fact makes me feel uncomfortable, and I shift a little closer to Din.

“I mean, at least you’re not targeted by the New Republic, you’re not an official criminal.”

“I think that getting attacked by random people everywhere we go is worse.”

“Maybe. You know, this reminds me a little too much of how you were getting chased by the Empire not so long ago. You just can’t seem to catch a break, huh?” Cara asks with a sympathetic smile. 

_The Empire? Din was involved with the Empire?_

“Yeah, I guess I can’t.” 

The room goes silent, and I inspect the two of them. I can only see Cara’s face, but the way both their bodies lightly sag, the way their heads are angled downwards, I can tell there’s something there between them that I’m not aware of, some dark, painful history.

I feel bothered by this, but I know that’s extremely selfish of me, so I stay silent until one of them stirs.

“Well,” Din says, breaking the silence, but the tension is still quite palpable. “I don’t really know what to make of this information. We might go visit Fett later, once things quiet down.”

“If you're ever in a tight spot and you need some backup, I'm available. I don't think we have any records on Vex or his men, but I'll see what I can find. Maybe there will be some information that can help you. But, don’t expect people to stop searching for you for a while. You’ve snapped quite an important link in the chain, and a lot of things have fallen apart for a lot of people.”

\- - -

I’m sitting outside and listening to the crackling and rustling of insects in the dense grass, thinking about Cara and Din and his apparent history with the Empire. He’s obviously not obligated to tell me anything about his past, but it seems so significant, too crucial to be left out. It’s the _Empire,_ for Maker’s sake, and they’re supposed to be gone.

The next thing I know, Cara comes up and sits down beside me. I give her a tight-lipped smile. “Thanks for coming here.”

“I’m not really much help, I know that. I think Din just wanted a friend by his side.”

I look away from her, disliking the implications of her comment. _“I’m_ here.”

She laughs. “You’re right, you are. Are you and him...?”

“What? No. No, not at all. I don’t even think that tin can is capable of those kinds of feelings.”

Cara sighs sadly. “Oh, he is.”

I cross my arms, sitting back against the stairs. “Is that so? Tell me.”

“I think that’s a story for him to tell when he’s ready,” she says softly. “I can tell he’s comfortable around you. He’ll get there. Just be patient with him.”

Cara’s gone the next day. Being part of the New Republic and all that, she’s got a lot on her plate. She left behind a couple hundred credits, even though Din fought her for a long time about it. I’m thankful, but it’s not like we even need them, and based on the information she gave us, we won’t be requiring much money for a long time.

She leaves me frustrated and terribly intrigued, wanting to know more but doubting Din is ever going to open up enough to tell me.

**Day 11**

Din is in a bad mood today.

I’ve tried to make conversation with him countless times, but he’s brushed me off and ignored everything I’ve had to say. I can never tell with him whether it’s my fault, or if he just feels like being cold every now and then.

I really don’t understand him. One moment, he’s kind and friendly, and even is willing to display small acts of fondness that manage to convince me that he actually might enjoy my company, and the next, it’s like he doesn’t know me and I’m the last person in the entire world that he wants to see.

**Day 17**

Neither of us is used to going too long without doing anything. Each day goes by so fucking slowly, it’s almost unbearable. 

Nothing happens, and as much as that’s a good thing, it’s infuriating. The village people don’t bother us and we don’t bother them. Occasionally, we take turns going out and picking up some fresh fruit and meat from the town and cook up meals when the night falls. It’s fun to get experimental with the ingredients we have. On multiple occasions, I laugh so hard at our incompetency at cooking that my stomach starts hurting, while Din yells at me to stop and help him so he doesn’t ruin it.

Then, we sit around a small fire as the sun sets, not saying a word.

There’s something about it that’s quite capturing, and as much as I hate doing absolutely nothing, I don’t mind it nearly as much as I thought at first.

**Day 23**

“How old are you?” I ask Din. I’m laying down on the ground, facing the sky. Thousands of stars stare back at me, my eyes dancing and scouting out constellations. We’re far enough away from Theed that the light doesn’t reach us and hide the beautiful view.

“What?” He’s leaning against a log right beside me. The fire has long since died out, and there’s nothing illuminating us but the dim lantern on the porch a ways away from us.

“You heard me. Was it...too personal?”

“No, um...I don’t really know. I think I'm in my late thirties.”

“Huh. That’s younger than I thought.”

“What, did you expect me to be an old man?”

“Well, judging by your attitude, yeah. Like a wise, old guy who’s so damaged and hardened by everything he’s seen and done.”

He hums. “I’ll take it as a compliment.”

I tilt my head up, looking at him upside down. “Can I ask something else?”

“You can ask, but I might not answer.”

“Okay, what colour is your hair?”

It seems like a pretty mundane question, but he responds with, “I’m not sure I want to tell you about my appearance.”

“Oh.” I look away, disappointed. “Scared I’ll be too tempted to take a peek once you describe what you look like?”

He’s silent for a long time, my joke not transmitting. I’m hesitant to ask anything else, I don’t want to accidentally make him mad or something.

But, to my surprise, he whispers, “Brown. My hair’s like a dark brown.”

I reach behind me and pat his arm. “Thanks. You don’t have to tell me if you’re not comfortable.”

“No, it’s...it’s actually okay.”

“Okay. First of all, are you a human?”

Din audibly laughs, and that’s officially the second time I’ve heard that rare sound come out of him. It’s just as delightful. “Yes, Andi. I’m human, last time I checked.”

I close my eyes as my mouth spreads into a small grin. “Do you have...dimples?”

“I don’t see myself smile enough to know.”

“Din,” I say with a little whine, “That’s really sad.”

“Is it? I’ve never needed to know.”

“I guess. Okay, what about, uh...moles?”

“Mm...not that I know of.”

“Do you keep a beard?”

“No, it gets too uncomfortable. I can’t grow it out too long. I have a little bit of hair on my face, though.”

I think for a moment, wondering what else I can ask. And then it comes to me, and I can’t believe I didn’t ask him sooner. “What colour are your eyes?” 

Din is tentative to answer, it seems, because he’s silent for a few seconds. “I’ll keep that one a secret. It’s important to keep the mystery element up, or else you’ll get bored with me.” 

I snicker, not even angry. “I don’t think it can ever get boring with you.” My mind is running through all the answers he gave me, and I’m trying to piece together a rough idea of what he might look like under the helmet. It hurts a little because I know I’ll never see and truly find out, but I’m quite content with the information I was able to get out of him.

But then, what Cara told us suddenly jumps to the front of my mind, and I suddenly want so badly to try, even though I know what the result is going to be. Maybe the question about love in his past is too soon, but surely he can give some backstory on his history with the Empire. “Din?”

“Yes?”

“What were you...what were you doing with the Empire?”

I can see in my peripheral vision the way his head turns to look at me, and then the other way completely.

I wait for a long time, and I know him well enough to know he’s not going to say anything. I don’t want to pry, so I don’t ask any further questions, even though I’m itching to.

We don’t move or speak for the rest of the night, and I keep watching the stars. I regret that I even asked him. 

_I should have just waited._

Soon enough, I’m drifting off to sleep. Despite everything, despite the fact that I probably hit a sensitive spot, despite the fact that he’s most likely angry with me for something I’m not even remotely aware of, I swear I can feel Din tenderly stroke my arm right before I pass out.

I don't fight it. It’s the most comforting feeling.

**Day 24**

And there it is again.

Din’s abrupt bitterness towards me really jabs me the wrong way this time. It’s almost as if the conversation we had last night didn’t happen. He barely even looks at me, much less talks to me, and when he does, it’s in his emotionless, unfriendly voice. 

He left for the village early this morning, and he’s only now returning just as the day is reaching its halfway point.

“Are you avoiding me?” I ask. He walks past me to the ship, entering the passcode that I’ve already entrusted to him weeks ago.

“No.”

“Then why are you acting like this?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, come on, Din. Don’t be rude.” When he doesn’t reply, I continue, “How come you’re able to be kind to me one minute, and the next it’s like you don't know me? Like you hate me?”

“I don’t hate you.”

“Really? Because that’s what it feels like.”

I don't give him a chance to reply and stalk off towards the woods without another word.

We don’t see each other until the evening, but we don't say anything before we separate and go to sleep.

**Day 27**

There are a few jobs in town I can take, and it’d be a lot better than being idle all day long. The boring, regular routine is starting to make me fucking insane. We’ve been on Naboo for 5 weeks and each day I’ve been doing nothing but wandering around aimlessly.

Din is no better, and I actually think all the seemingly endless lack of... _anything_ is making him more antagonized than it is me. 

He’s constantly lashing out at me, blaming me for the smallest things, like the floorboard that broke in the house or the screw that’s loose in the shower on my ship. I try not to pay attention to it too much, but it becomes increasingly difficult the more time we spend together, and there’s really nowhere to go except for the woods or the village to get away from each other.

So that’s what we do.

Other times, however, it’s so pleasant to be around him that I don’t recognize him as the same brooding Mandalorian. 

I notice the way he sometimes lets his hand remain on mine for a little longer when we touch, the way he tries to be nice to me when he’s in a good mood. We’re finally able to have regular conversations and talk without getting into arguments. It’s crazy what almost a month of being together will do. **[AUTHOR’S NOTE: there are 35 days in a Star Wars month].**

I also don’t ignore the way my heart pounds when Din looks straight at me, when his bare skin makes contact with mine, even when we’re simply close to each other. It’s enraging, these feelings that I’ve sworn I wouldn’t feel for anybody ever again, but I simply can’t dismiss them. No matter what I tell myself I promised so long ago, no matter how many times I have to remind myself that getting into this kind of shit with him, with anyone, is only going to crash and burn in the end, I just can’t force myself to disregard this growing problem inside of me. 

I can’t tell if Din feels the same way, because it’s impossible to know, but by the looks of how his treatment of me changes so quickly and so often, it doesn’t seem like he cares a lot about me in that way.

That's probably a good thing.

**Day 31**

I finally remember to go back to the lake I found. I haven’t visited it since I fell asleep beside the water and had to make my way back in the dark.

I leave early and make the trek through the vegetation in about three hours. Din gave me a communicator this time, even though the signal will probably be even worse when I’m surrounded by the forest. 

The water is as still as the last time, and is just asking to be swam in. It feels like I haven’t been here in a year, but that’s the way that time works now. It either stands still or moves so fucking slowly that it seems like your life is getting wasted away and you can feel every second of it.

I sit down and take off my boots, setting them neatly by a rock. I pull off my shirt and pants, leaving me in just my undergarments.

The water is quite cold when I dip my foot in, but the feeling it provides is so refreshing that I don’t even notice. Soon enough, I’m neck-deep in the water and my toes are barely touching the sandy ground. 

I watch birds chase each other overhead as I float, my limbs outstretched. The water laps over my body parts, and I let it, simply taking in the peace and quiet. I don’t know how long this whole thing will last for, so I try to not take it for granted. I try to appreciate my sweeter moments with Din, and the tranquility of Naboo. I haven’t had this much time to just relax in a long ass time.

Who knows, though? Maybe this will go on forever. Maybe we’ll be here for an actual year, and we’ll get so accustomed to this life that we’ll want to stay.

I audibly laugh at the thought. Me living in the middle of the forest for the rest of my life and doing nothing is pretty much impossible. I can’t even imagine Din leading such a life, much less with me.

_With me._

I wonder if he’s considered traveling together once this is all over. We’ve grown considerably closer, and although not all of it’s good, it’s not like before anymore. I like the idea of having him with me, I think. It’ll be weird, but it can work. We’ll make one hell of a bounty hunting team if we learn to work together, and can at some point even call each other good friends. 

And...maybe-

A sudden rustling in the bushes frightens me and I frantically move my entire body into the water, the splashing of my limbs sending small waves in all directions. I submerge myself to my nose, ready to dip in and hide. 

The second I see a brilliant shine coming from the bushes, however, I know it’s Din coming through, fully dressed in his armour.

I sigh, relieved. “You scared me.”

“What are you doing?” I can’t tell if he sounds disappointed, annoyed, angry, or all of them at the same time.

“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m swimming.”

I take a deep breath and let myself descend into the water for just a second, then come up and brush my hair back away from my face. 

“The water’s nice. You should really come in,” I joke.

“Andi, do you know what creatures can be living in there?”

I groan. “For once, Din, can you stop worrying about what might happen and whether or not I’m in danger? I’m trying to enjoy myself.”

“Fine, but when your legs get eaten, I’m not going to help you.”

I laugh, swimming closer to the shore and trying to splash water at him. “Of course you won’t.”

Din kneels down on the grass where the lake starts, his boots sinking a bit in the moist ground. He takes off his gloves, tosses them back to where my shoes are, and then feels the water.

He lifts a hand to his helmet as if to take it off, then freezes. “Can you look away?”

I spin around and gaze at the other side of the lake. I can see a mountain towering over the forest in the distance, over all the treetops. I can hear water droplets fall into the lake a few times behind me, and I have the biggest urge to turn around and to look, even for just a split second, and see what he looks like.

Unfortunately, I have respect for him and whatever he believes in, so I force myself to stay put until he gives me the all-clear and I can stare at Beskar again. “Why’d you come here?”

“What else is there to do?”

“So, what? Following me around is your new go-to activity?”

“Do you mind?”

“No. I guess I don’t.”

I swim around for a little longer before I finally feel cold and want to get out. Din turns his back as I exit the water and let the sun dry me off. I glance at him a few times, wondering if he senses the same desire to look, to see a new and different part of me that he hasn’t seen before. Strangely, I don’t think I’d care if he did, even though I know he'd never.

_What would he do if I went up to him right now and just let him see me? What would he say? Has he ever even seen a girl so underdressed before?_

_Maker, I’ve been alone for too long._

Once I’m dry enough, I pull on my clothes and shoes and we begin the hike back to the hut.

**Day 34**

It’s been raining all day. 

Neither of us leaves the house. I spend my time sleeping, sharpening my knife, polishing my boots, cleaning, and literally doing everything else possible to occupy the time.

Din’s not much better. When he sits still, I can’t tell if he’s sleeping or just thinking, but he hasn’t been doing a whole lot of productive work either way.

We talk a little here and there, but we mostly just remain silent and listen to the pouring rain outside. 

Around mid-day, the weather still hasn’t cleared up, but I get an idea that might keep us entertained for a bit. It'll be far better than what we're doing right now.

“Hey, wanna play Dejarik?”

Din doesn’t move but replies with, “We don’t have a board.”

“I do, actually. I haven’t used it in a long time because, well, I have no one to play with. But it’ll pass the time now.”

“You couldn’t have thought of this, like, 30 days ago?”

“Shut up,” I mutter, already getting up to leave the hut. The rain drenches my clothes within a minute of me being outside. I quickly retrieve the dusty board from a storage unit on my ship, hoping it’s still functioning properly and everything inside is intact.

I haul it back to the house and shiver as I set the circular board down on the floor, water dripping from my hair and face.

“Shit, it’s-it's freezing.”

“Here,” Din says, reaching out to me. “Give me your hands.”

"Why?"

"Trust me."

I let him take my cold hands, and watch as he grips them tightly and holds them against his own warm glove-less ones. I forget about the fact that I’m shivering and standing in wet clothes, and instead focus on the way he’s feeling each finger, rubbing the red tips where they’re the coldest, the way he’s interlocking his own fingers with mine, squeezing, and releasing.

After a minute or so of this, he lets go, leaving my hands hovering in the air. I pull them back to me, noticing the difference. “Thank you.”

He gives me a small nod and starts to fiddle with the Dejarik board.

I go into the other room to change into a dry shirt and pants, as well as attempt to brush out my hair. The feeling of his touch is still very much present on my skin.

Once I get back to the main room, I sit down across from him and we review the rules of the game. When I press the power button on the side, holograms light up before both of us on the board and display a creature.

We each scroll through them, picking out four. I choose the K’lor’slug, the Kintan Strider, the Ghhhk, and the Ng’ok and arrange them on my side of the board. Din does the same with the Grimtaash, the Houjix, the Mantellian Savrip, and the Monnok.

“You go first,” he says.

My skills are a little rusty, and it doesn’t take long for him to take down my Ghhhk. I chase his strongest piece, the Mantellian Savrip, across the squares, somehow avoiding getting struck down, and order my Ng’ok to use its special ability and attack twice, then once again after Din’s turn, to take him out. I watch as the Mantellian Savrip gets an ax to the gut. My Ng’ok is down to 2 Health, but it was worth it.

We go back and forth, maneuvering our pieces and attacking each other until there’s one holographic monster left on the board, and it’s Din’s.

“Dank farrik,” I mutter, and his shoulders shake with a laugh. 

_That’s three._

“Again?” he asks. 

“Again.”

We play, over and over again. It doesn’t get boring and the rain doesn’t stop, which is perfect. I win, then he wins, then I win again. It’s a continuous battle, and it’s some of the most fun I’ve had in years. He’s quite a good player.

On our seventh playthrough, he breaks the silence while I’m thinking and asks, “Have you always traveled alone?”

I look up. “Uh, yeah. Ever since my parents died and I had to take care of myself. Why?”

“I’m just wondering.”

“Have you?”

Din is quiet, either because he’s pondering on the answer or doesn’t want to give it. I pull my attention back to Dejarik and make my move, hitting his Kintan Strider. 

“For a while. Then, there was...someone else.” I hug my knees to my chest, waiting for him to go on. Din orders his Houjix into the outer rim of the board. “Someone really special. But...they’re gone now.”

“What happened?”

He sighs. “It’s complicated.”

As usual, I don’t push. 

_Maybe this has to do with his history involving the Empire. Something must have happened to his friend that makes it hard for him to talk about._

We make our last few moves, and I’m victorious.

“You’re not half as bad as I thought you would be.”

I smirk. “Likewise. I thought you’d be shit at this. I’m still kicking your ass, though.”

“Again?”

“Sure.”

He doesn’t talk for the rest of the day, perhaps trapped in memories set off by our conversation. I wish I could help in some way, but I just stay silent, only able to guess what can be troubling him so.

\- - -

I notice that the rain has stopped thundering down on the roof when it’s dark outside and Din and I have played so many games that I lost count. I yawn and stretch at the same time, leaning back.

Din is barely keeping his head up, too. We’ve been playing for hours. He makes one last move and my Grimtaash is dead, making the victory his.

“Who won the most rounds?”

I shake my head, standing up. “No idea. But good job. You played well.”

“So did you.”

Din turns off the Dejarik board and scoots back up against the wall with a huge sigh. "We should play again later."

"For sure." I grab a drink of water from the canister sitting on the counter and then bid him goodnight, shuffling off to my room.

"Andi?"

I halt in the doorway. “Yes?”

“This...is going to sound really strange, and you don’t have to do it if you’re not comfortable, but…” 

I cross my arms, waiting for him to get the words out. 

“Do you think you can stay here tonight?”

His words don’t register at first. I’m so taken off guard by his request that I don’t move for a moment, my mind racing through questions and all the possible answers I can give him.

“I’m sorry, I-”

“No!” I interrupt, shaking my head. “No, I can stay. I can stay, it’s fine. I just...wasn't expecting that.”

My gut twists as I retrieve the pillow and blanket from my room and settle down beside him on the floor. I leave a few inches of space between us, not sure what his intentions and boundaries are. 

I lay down under the blanket and rest my head on the pillow, watching him do the same.

“Din. What about your helmet?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re going to sleep with it on?”

“Yes.”

I don’t say anything else, just position my hands under my head and look at his neck, his shoulder, his helmet. He’s staring up at the ceiling, the dim light of the lantern illuminating us. My eyes are heavy, and a pounding headache is starting to come in. I try to ignore the fact that I'm about to sleep right next to Din and focus on drifting off.

“Andi?” he whispers after a while.

“Mm?”

“Is it okay if...you give me your hand?”

_Maker._

I don’t say a word but lift my right hand to him, hoping he doesn’t notice the small trembling. Din takes it in both of his hands and gently brushes his fingers back and forth between the back of it, my palm, tracing the bones and lines in the skin.

It tickles and tingles, but I don’t dare move. 

As nervous as I am, the touches are relaxing and start to send me off to deep sleep. My head lulls forward and the top of my forehead comes to rest against Din’s shoulder. I wait for him to tell me to get off or move, but he doesn’t.

His fingers move up, caressing my whole arm, and I can feel myself smile before I pass out.

**Day 35**

His arms are around me when I wake up. 

I’m laying on my side, and my back is pressed up against his chest and stomach. One of his arms loops under my neck and rests on the pillow in front of me, and the other is around my waist and hugging me to him. 

I don’t move a muscle, afraid to bother him.

_How did we end up like this? What if he wakes up and feels disgusted by this? Or ashamed? What if his helmet is off? Is it?_

The feeling of being held by someone like this is so fucking strange that I can’t tell right away if I’m okay with it or not.

It takes another ten minutes of feeling his chest rise and fall against my back, of listening to his steady breaths, of watching his fingers twitch slightly every now and then, of recognizing the warmth and comfort that is flowing through me right now, to realize that I like this.

I really, really like this.

I finally let myself relax in his hold and try to get accustomed to it. 

\- - -

I fall asleep again because the next time I open my eyes I can no longer feel Din’s body against mine. I sit up, disoriented and groggy.

“Morning.”

Din is sitting before the Dejarik board, holographic pieces standing idly on top and an empty pack of rations by his side. 

_Did he eat that here? With his helmet off? With me in the room?_

“Good morning.”

“How’d you sleep?”

“I...I slept very well, actually.”

Din nods, moving a piece to a different square. “Good.”

I rub my knuckles into my eyes. "You practicing?"

"Of course. Can't let you beat me so many times again like last night." 

I get up and go straight to my ship to use the bathroom, shower, and clean myself up. All the plants outside shimmer in the sunlight from the water droplets the rain left over. The sky is once again cloudless and the air is warm.

My mind can’t let go of Din, the way he held me so close to him, the way I felt so secure knowing he was right there. 

_This is not good, Andi. You can’t get attached, you can’t let this progress._

But, Maker, do I want to. 

I know what I promised myself, I know what the dangers are of growing close to somebody, even just one person. Everything is absolutely perfect and you feel like you’re the happiest being in the fucking galaxy until something comes by and tears it all down, and that something will always be there. That something will be waiting for the right moment to disrupt and destroy everything, leaving nothing behind. No matter how safe it feels, no matter how much you think nothing can ever take away what you have, it will always be ready.

There’s something about Din, though, that makes me want to take the risk, to take the leap of faith and just try. Maybe it's the mystery that surrounds him, with all the things I still don't know about him, maybe it's the fact that we've been alone together for a while. All I know is I’ve been alone for years and I will be alone for many more unless I just give it a chance. It hasn’t been bad, being alone. Not in the least. But having someone there by my side, to fight with and talk with and touch and appreciate and be appreciated by back equally...I know full well that the experience is priceless and so, so rare to have.

_You’re getting ahead of yourself. He’s just lonely, and you happen to be right there. He’s not interested._

That’s true, it’s very true. It’s stupid for me to assume that he wants that kind of relationship with me. Stupid and naive, two extremely dangerous things that I'm ashamed of myself for.

But...wouldn’t it be nice?

\- - -

“It’s been a month. Since we got here.”

I sigh, popping a nut into my mouth. “It feels like it’s been a lot longer than that.”

We play Dejarik a few times, and I visit the village to purchase some more food. Neither of us mentions what happened last night or how we ended up this morning.

Despite the lack of acknowledgment, my mind is still in the middle of a major civil war, and only Maker knows which side is going to prevail.

**Day 38**

Din is playing with my hair.

I’m laying down outside on the grass on my stomach, reading the manual for my ship that I found, and Din is sitting beside me and rolling strands of my hair between his fingers.

I smile. “What are you doing?”

“I like your hair. I can stop if you want.”

“No, it’s okay. I just wish, I don’t know...there was some way for me to see more of you than just...this.” I gesture to his Beskar-less outfit. "Not that this is bad, but. You know."

Din doesn’t say anything. I try to resume my reading about power converters when he slides a hand down along my spine and lets it rest in the dip of my lower back.

I take a deep breath, my muscles tensing. 

“I have an idea.”

His hand is off me in a second. I close the manual and flip over, facing him.

"Lie down and rest your head on my legs.”

Once again, his request leaves me speechless and takes a moment to process before I clear my throat and do what he says. I move over and lower my upper body down until I’m looking up at his visor and my head is on his thighs. I fold my hands in my lap and try to look as calm as possible as my heart beats rapidly.

“Here.”

He bows his head down, and I’m confused as to what he’s doing until he reaches behind his head, grabs the back of his helmet, and pulls it up.

My eyes widen and I start to cover them, but he stops moving before I’m able to. “Go ahead. It's only fair."

Understanding floods through me. Slowly, I raise my hand up and feel behind his neck where I can’t see. My fingertips come into contact with short, soft locks. I hesitate, but he gives me a small nod. I smile as I run my fingers through the curls and pull lightly, the hair reaching almost halfway down his neck. 

“Now we’re even,” he says after a minute and puts his helmet back down. 

"Much appreciated."

 _What now? Do I get off? Do I move? Do I wait for_ him _to move? Is he not moving on purpose?_

“Andi…”

“Yeah?”

His hand comes up to my face and cups my cheek. I swallow, hoping my skin isn’t too red.

“You’re really beautiful.”

This comment almost makes me fall apart right here and now, in his lap. I feel like I’m plunging down from a terribly great height and it takes me a while to respond. “I-tha-thank you, Din. I wish I could say you were handsome, but...I already know you’re ugly under there.”

Din shoves me off his legs playfully and I laugh, repeating over and over again that I’m kidding. I’m beaming, but there’s a raging storm of nerves going on inside, so strong that I can barely focus on anything else.

**Day 44**

I grunt as Din’s punch lands right in my gut, and I resist the urge to keel over and not get up.

_Come on, pay attention._

I watch him carefully, inspecting his every move. He moves his arm back and I know another punch is coming, so I’m ready and dodge it when it comes. His other arm curls all the way around me, though, and he secures it around my neck, holding me against him.

“Got you. Again.”

I push his arm off and position myself in front of him for what seems like the hundredth time, bending my legs and raising my fists.

He comes in for the same punch, but this time, I grab his fist and kick the other incoming arm. I use both hands and twist the arm that I have a hold on, forcing his body to lean and move in an attempt to release the pain.

“Good. Nice.”

I nod and let go. He shakes the arm out, walking around in a little circle.

There is so little left to do that we have resorted to fighting each other. It started out with us calling it training, but at this point, we’re just dueling for hours and showing off.

As soon as Din is ready again, I fake right and then use the tiny window of opportunity to spin and kick his right side. He stumbles but recovers quickly. I duck as a punch comes my way and slam myself into his body.

Din collapses onto the ground, and I chuckle as I look down at him. “Tired of getting your ass handed to you yet?”

I give him a hand and he gets back up onto his feet. “It’s a tie right now. Let’s pause, I’m hungry.”

“Oh sure. Sure. Hungry, huh? I think you’re just scared to lose to me.”

Din sighs, cocking his head at me. “Do you really want to do this?”

“Why not? One last round, come on.”

“Fine, fine." He gets into a fighting stance, knees bent and arms raised. "Maybe this will help to improve your melee skills so we don't end up in a situation like this again."

I freeze, my grin quickly vanishing. "What did you say?"

"Come on, let's get started."

"No, no no no, tell me what you meant by that."

He sighs again. "You know what I meant, but I'm not trying to offend you."

I almost can't believe it. "You're saying we're hiding on Naboo...because of me? Because of my lack of skill?"

"I'm saying that if you knew how to fight a little better, maybe Dumien Vex wouldn't be dead right now and we wouldn't be wasting time here."

My jaw drops in disbelief and my blood boils. "Oh, so we're back to this now? _You_ were the one who let Vex escape and almost killed yourself, _you_ were the one who murdered him in the end, _you_ were the one who cost us 30,000 credits!" I haven't raised my voice at him like this before, but even when my throat starts to hurt, I don't notice. I can't hold back the overwhelming wave of anger. "We're having to hide here because of _you."_

"Maker, Andromeda." The nerve on him. "Do you really want to discuss this?"

"You brought it up."

"Okay, fine. How about the fact that you didn't even think before running after Vex and he almost killed you because of your impulsiveness. _I_ saved your life. I had _both_ of us in mind, unlike you, who can't seem to collaborate with anyone."

"Maybe you should have let me die and taken all the credits for yourself."

_How long has he been holding this in? How long has he been waiting to tell me that everything that's happening is my fault? Is this why he's been treating me like a child?_

He groans. "You're so difficult."

 _"I'm_ difficult?" I scoff. "You're the one who can't make up your mind on whether or not you want to be nice to me or not. Ever since we got here, it's been a constant back and forth and I am _sick_ of it."

"What do you want me to do? Apologize?"

"Yes. I do. Apologize for screwing us over and being an asshole towards me."

"Not until you apologize first."

I take a step towards him and bring my head inches away from his helmet. "No."

He's silent for a moment, and then says, "I can see why you're alone."

The words are so merciless and unexpected that I genuinely feel like someone stabbed me through the heart. It's like every wonderful moment we shared and every pleasant feeling Din caused is erased, every thought is gone, and only one thing remains. 

I thrust my arms out and shove his shoulders, sending him stumbling back. I throw punch after punch at his ribs, which he blocks at first but soon lets a few slip and connect. My knuckles ache, but I don't stop. I lift my leg and kick it out, but Din manages to jump back before it can make contact. 

Din slides his hand under my leg and pushes it up, sending me off balance and tumbling into the grass. I roll to the side before he’s able to do anything and spring to my feet.

He attempts to sweep my legs out from underneath me, which gives me the opportunity to jump onto his shoulders. Din staggers a little from the sudden weight and grips my knees tightly as my thighs hug his helmet. I reach down and try to encircle his neck in a headlock, but I have to spread my legs out and loosen my hold. The moment he feels this, he pushes my body back and I land with a loud _THUD_ on the ground.

Din is on me in mere milliseconds, straddling my waist. "Andromeda!" I push away his hands that are trying to catch my wrists, and quickly reach up and hit him in the throat. He reels back slightly and I'm able to get out from under him and reverse the position. I grab his right arm and twist, then take the other and slam it into the ground. I'm sitting on his stomach, and even though I'm not that heavy, I know it's making it hard for him to breathe. 

I release his arms and raise my fists, bringing them down over and over onto his chest. He grunts in pain but manages to encircle my wrists in his hands, holding them tightly and preventing me from moving.

 _"Andromeda!"_ he repeats through pants. I'm breathing heavily, too, as I'm looking down at him. Energy is coursing through me, and I want to wrench my arms out of his grasp and kick him until he's motionless. His grip is strong, and even if I were to get up, he wouldn't let go. So instead we remain still, catching our breaths with me sitting on top of him.

Eventually, his hold loosens and I tug my arms away roughly. I start to get up but his hands come on either side of my hips and he holds me down. "Andi...I'm sorry."

I'm a little astonished at the words. I know I asked for them, but I really wasn't expecting him to comply. I don't know if he means them, and I don't know if he's apologizing for everything or one thing in particular, but I find myself nodding anyway.

He sits up with a pained groan, causing me to shift so that I'm situated on his lap and my legs are almost circling his waist. Din raises his head to look at me, his helmet so close to my face that I feel like I can see his eyes behind the visor if I look hard enough. He brings his hands to both my cheeks and holds my face. 

Din sighs and presses his forehead to mine. 

"I'm...sorry, too," I manage to whisper, and as much as I'm furious with him, I think I actually mean what I'm saying.

And then everything makes sense the second Din's hands start sliding down my neck and arms. 

I don't move as his fingers find the little hairs on the nape of my neck and pull gently, as his thumb runs over my bottom lip a few times, as his left hand slowly disappears under my shirt and touches my back. I can't help but squirm, though, when he pulls my body closer to his and the space between my legs rubs against his thigh. 

I fucking swear, Maker...I swear, if he didn't have a helmet on right now, I'd kiss him.

And...it's like all of a sudden, all the noise in the world vanishes and the landscape around us blurs, leaving just me and Din. This is all that matters, this is all that's happening. Just me and him and my hands that are winding around his shoulders and his fingers that are making their way to my stomach, making me flinch from the cold sensation, and then they're moving up and up and-

The whole world comes back into focus all at once as high-pitched, horror-filled screams echo across the field from the village.


	8. Chapter 8

**8**

* * *

**Slight NSFW :)**

I scramble off Din’s lap the second the awful sounds reach my ears. 

My eyes move towards the source, in the direction of the village all the way on the other end of the field. We’ve strayed quite far from our house, and so I can’t see the rooftops of the buildings from here.

But what I _can_ see is the black smoke that’s steadily rising in the distance.

“No,” I whisper. “No, no, no!”

I start running as fast as I can, pumping my arms and praying to the Maker that it isn’t what I think it is, that it’s just a simple, accidental fire.

Din is right beside me as we sprint through the grass. More pillars of smoke are appearing over the treetops, more people are screaming, and I know for a fact that it’s all over.

We reach the house with _The Casstian_ still safely sitting beside it. Din begins to enter the code by the door, but I keep going.

“Andi!” he yells. “What are you doing?”

I spin around. “We have to help them! We can’t...you know what’s happening, we can’t just let them die!”

“Andi, we have to go. We can’t rush in, we don’t even know how many of them there are!”

“They helped us, Din. They gave us somewhere to stay. I can’t let innocent people lose their lives because of us.”

I give him just a few seconds to reply, and thankfully, for fucking _once_ , he does, and he agrees. “Dank farrik, _fine._ Just wait, let me get our blasters.”

He runs into the house and comes out a moment later with my knife and DL-44, as well as his own little SE-14C. He’s not wearing his Beskar, and I’m not any better in regards to protection, but it’ll have to do. There’s no time.

We quickly make our way down the dirt path that we’ve both walked on so many times. I’m pushing myself as hard as I can despite my muscles aching terribly, especially from the amount of fighting Din and I have been doing recently.

As we near the village, I can see people hiding behind buildings and crouching as blaster fire shoots past them. A lady gets hit in the back as she tries to round a corner, collapsing onto the ground. I swallow a lump in my throat.

Din and I press ourselves up against the wall of the outermost building, peeking out around the edge. I can see a band of what looks like Niktos moving down the wide main street, shooting into alleys and windows at terrified villagers, grabbing them and screaming in their faces about something I can’t make out.

_Niktos. They were the last ones we saw before coming here. They must have tracked us down somehow._

Several buildings are on fire. It doesn't seem serious, but I know the flames are going to spread quickly. We have to act now.

I move out of hiding and run up to kneel beside a stack of boxes. Finding a comfortable position, I set my arms on top of a box and point my blaster at one of the Niktos. I hold my breath, aim at the head, and pull the trigger.

The Nikto falls a split second later, startling his buddies. I manage to get a couple more, but they soon scatter and I can no longer see any of them once they’ve hidden.

“Here’s what we’re going to do,” Din says once I get back to him. “There don’t seem to be that many, so I’ll go all the way across to the other side and you stay here. Move up the streets and get as many as you can, but _be careful._ If you get overwhelmed, scream and I’ll come for you, okay?”

I nod, my adrenaline rushing. Din lifts his hand and cups my cheek, taking a second to just look at me. I raise my own hand and press it against his, our fingers slightly interlocking against my skin.

“Go,” he eventually says, and we separate.

I move around the building and silently make my way to a row of houses ahead of me. I can hear distant yelling and crying and blaster fire, but it’s quiet on this side. The only sound is of the leaves and rocks that crunch under my feet. 

The first Nikto comes out into the narrow street from a house, and I instantly blast him through the chest. I glance into the small hut that he came out of. It’s empty, but the place is in disarray, as if he ransacked it. 

_They’re searching for something. They’re searching for_ us.

I take a breath and keep going, cautiously checking every little house and all the spaces in between. Some of the houses have families hiding behind furniture, hugging each other on the floor and crying. All I can do is assure them that I’m going to help and apologize for causing all of this before leaving and closing the door behind me.

I find and shoot about a dozen of the Niktos, who are all rummaging through peoples’ houses and leaving horribly big messes before moving onto the next one. Most of them seem to not care about the villagers, and pay them no attention. Some, however, don’t hesitate to leave behind corpses, no matter who it is they're killing.

A little girl runs out from behind a large boulder in front of me, scaring me shitless. I almost shoot her, but my finger stops just in time. She waddles up to me with arms raised, tears streaming down her pink cheeks. 

“Hey, hey,” I say, kneeling down and taking her little hand. “Where are your parents?”

She shrugs half-heartedly and looks around, whimpering. I don’t even know what to do but hope that her family is alright, but probably worried out of their minds.

“Look, I’ll help you find them once I’m done here, okay? For now, you have to hide. I’ll-”

My eyes snap to a figure moving in front of us, just a few meters down the row of huts. I act fast, pushing the little girl out of the way as the Nikto points his blaster at us and shoots. I dodge it, the bolt hitting the ground between us and causing rocks and dust to fly everywhere.

I raise my DL-44 and kill him, watching him crumple. 

“It’s not safe, okay? You have to go.” I urge the little girl, who is now sobbing, into one of the houses I’ve already passed, making the family there promise that they’ll take care of her until this is all over.

I exit the row and enter a wide street. I look both ways, hunkering down behind a wheelbarrow. The left side goes all the way down to the main street, and I can see, way on the other end of the village, Din hitting someone in the back of the head with his blaster and then shooting them before disappearing between the houses.

 _Good. He’s still alive._ Not that I ever doubted him, but it's nice to be assured there's still hope that this won't be a complete failure.

I move to walk out onto the street but a sudden noise behind me stops me in my tracks. I only get the chance to turn around halfway when a Nikto leaps off the ground and collides with me. 

I stumble, my feet practically dancing in order to keep me from falling over. The Nikto has his arms around my neck and legs wrapped around my waist, the weight pulling me backward. One of his hands releases me and hits me right in the eye, so hard I swear I see stars. I try to steady myself, gather up as much strength as possible, and with a grunt heave the Nikto over my head and slam him onto his back on the ground in front of me.

My knife is out in seconds, and I send it through his chest as I fall to my knees.

I sit there for a moment, watching blood spread and soak his clothes. My right eye throbs, but I dismiss it and get up, wiping the blade of my knife on my pants.

Once I cross the street, I enter a narrow walkway behind quite a large wooden building. I get up on my toes and peek into one of the windows. It’s a bar, or a restaurant. There are tables and chairs out of place and strewn across the floor. Many cups and plates have been knocked over, creating a huge mess of various foods and liquids.

What I notice before all of that, though, is the back of another Nikto. I duck down immediately, but he can’t see me. He’s too preoccupied with scouring the floor for something behind a counter.

I back up to the road and as quietly as possible make my way across the porch of the establishment, careful to crawl under the windows, and head to the front door. 

From there, it’s simple to navigate between the mix of toppled furniture and garbage. The Nikto keeps searching.

I get to the counter and lean against it, listening to the creature groan in what seems like frustration. The second he steps into the open, however, I get up and kick his back, grab his blaster, and drive my foot between his legs.

He lets out a pained squeal and curls up on the floor, one hand outstretched in front of him as if to shield himself from me. I point both our blasters at him.

The Nikto looks up at me, and recognition floods his eyes as they widen. “You. You’re the girl.”

I smile. “It’s Andromeda.” One bolt through his head, and he becomes still on the floor.

 _Now I_ definitely _know they’re_ _here for us._

_Shit._

I run back to the front of the building and look out at the main street. There are Niktos walking past windows on the second floor of a building across the road, but they’re out of sight before I can get them.

Taking the chance while things seem relatively quiet, I bolt to the other side of the street and duck behind a stack of hay. There are bodies littering the ground, both of villagers and Niktos.

My stomach is empty, but I know I would have probably thrown up from the sight of three young children laying in the dirt, unmoving. I tear my eyes away and move on.

_There’s nothing I can do except save the ones that are still alive._

I keep going and weave around broken carts, dead animals, abandoned toys, and tools. It’s haunting, honestly. I’ve seen a lot of shit in my life, but something about a bloody toy sitting alone in the dust just makes me feel a whole other kind of disgust.

It doesn’t take long for me to find Din. He’s wrestling a Nikto on top of a balcony, and his back is being pushed into the railing. I raise one of my blasters and aim at his opponent, but Din throws his head back and smashes the helmet into his nose. I wince at the sound the collision makes, and the Nikto falls onto the floor.

Din hops down from the balcony as I step out into the space. He flinches and reaches for his blaster on the ground beside him, but stops as soon as he gets a second to properly look at me.

“Andi. You’re okay.”

“Yeah, of course I am.”

He picks up and holsters his blaster, taking a quick look around before walking up to me and taking both my shoulders. He looks up and down, inspecting me. “Your eye, Andi.”

“I know. One of these fuckers got a good hit in. But I’m fine. What are we going to do?”

“I think we’ve pushed them back quite a bit, so we need to evacuate the villagers. I found the Chief, he’s hiding with his family a few houses back. I’ll go get him, while you-”

A shot whizzes past me, grazing my shoulder. I cry out and my hand flies to the sizzling wound. Din spins around, but in the few seconds that it takes him to locate the shooter, he’s already screaming through a communicator that we’re here and to launch a second attack.

Din kills him without any hesitation the moment he spots the Nikto, but it’s too late. 

“Din...reinforcements.”

“Are you hurt badly?” he asks, trying to move my hand away to look at my skin. It’s like he didn’t even hear what I said.

“There’s no time, this doesn’t matter right now. Go get the Chief and have him get his people out of here, somewhere to the next village, or Theed, or the fucking woods. I can hold them off.”

“Are you s-”

“Yes, Din! Go!”

Thankfully, he doesn’t waste any more time. As soon as he’s gone, I force myself to move and climb up a ladder that leads to the second floor of the building where Din was fighting just a minute ago. The burning pain in my shoulder is almost unbearable, but I clench my jaw and try to concentrate.

Once I’m at the top, I position myself behind an open window and look out. The window provides a great view of the rest of the small village. I can see the marketplace from which Din and I purchased our food during our stay here, and the town hall past that, and part of the medical center that stands across those.

Everything is empty, with so many more bodies of innocent people scattered on this end. It tugs at my heart, what we have done to all of these people.

A good ten minutes pass before I’m pulled back into the present when the familiar sounds of speeder bikes fill my ears. I crane my neck to see down the path that leads out of the village, and sure enough, there are dozens of them racing down the road.

_Maker, please let Din get the villagers out okay._

I take a deep breath and set my arms on top of the windowsill, closing one eye and aiming at the entrance to the village.

The first Nikto to jump off their speeder gets shot down instantly. Their buddies that didn’t notice in the cloud of dust that’s surrounding all of them are next. It’s satisfying to see their bodies drop. 

Eventually, they catch on and start yelling at each other and running in different directions. I manage to get a few more before one of them finally spots me and they all start shooting at my window. I duck down as at least a dozen streaks of heat and light zoom past me and burn holes in the wooden structure. 

I know they’re going to come for me soon, so I move back to the ladder and jump down onto the ground. I falter slightly as my feet land, a mild jolt of pain erupting in my knees, but recover quickly and move further up.

I sit behind a stack of crates and watch through the space between buildings. The firing has ceased, and one of them is speaking to the others. I don’t know what he’s saying, but from the way he’s pointing to several directions and speaking in an angry, passionate tone, it’s pretty easy to guess what they’re going to do next.

With a heavy sigh, I raise the two blasters I have on me once again, and I’m just about to start killing when I hear my name.

I turn around and see Din crouching a few meters behind me. He’s motioning for me to come over. I smile and start to make my way to him, ready to leave this place knowing we did what we could and not come back, probably ever. But of course, it can’t be that easy, can it? The universe can’t let us get away so fast without throwing more obstacles in our way. No, because why should we ever get a simple path to follow, an easy way out?

The screams of the child come over me like a huge, unexpected wave of ice-cold water. My relieved expression turns into a frown as I twist back around and search for the source of the terrified noises. 

A boy who can’t be older than 10 is thrashing violently in a Niktos grasp, a blaster pressed against the side of his head and everything. My body is itching to just leave and forget, just put all of this behind me right now and go, but my mind is forcing my legs to stay put.

 _Where the_ fuck _did that boy come from?_

“Andi,” Din whispers, “We have to go. There’s nothing we can do.”

“Yes, there is. We need to help the kid, we can’t just leave him.”

“We’re going to die if we engage all of those Niktos at once.”

“Our priority is to save the village, right? Well, there’s one more person that’s in danger, and it’s a fucking child, Din.”

“My priority is _you,_ Andi.”

I don’t have a reply for that. All I know is I can’t risk another death that I’m able to prevent. 

“Andromeda Arwen and Mandalorian!” a rough voice calls out loud enough to be heard all across the village. I’m taken aback by the fact that he knows my name, but then remember how well known we must be among the filth of the galaxy and I’m not as surprised anymore. We both peek over the crates, our eyes landing on the Nikto tugging the crying child along. “Turn yourselves in, and we will release this child, since it’s quite clear that you’re more interested in saving these worthless lives than your own.”

Neither of us moves, but Din must sense that I want to because his hand comes to rest on my good shoulder, holding me down.

“I know you can hear me. Come with us, and another innocent will not die because of your foolishness.”

“We have to do this.” I start to get up, but Din presses his hand down harder, forcing me to stay.

“Wait.” He sighs. “Okay, fine. We’ll help the kid, but we’ll need a plan.”

I think for a moment, running through our options and what we have available to us. “Here’s what we’ll do: I’ll turn myself in and stall for time. They want both of us, so they won’t kill me or leave without getting you first. You go back to _The Casstian_ and fly it over here to shoot down all of these bastards and free us.”

“That’s a really stupid plan.”

“Just do it.”

“I don’t like leaving you. What if you’re wrong, what if they don’t care about me not being there and just kill you?”

“That’s a chance I have to take, Din.”

He shakes his head. “I don’t think that’s a chance _I_ can take.”

I lock his fingers between mine. “Trust me. I’ll be okay, I’ll find a way to stay alive long enough for you to get here. It’ll be alright. Now, come on, there’s no time.”

Din gives my hands a quick squeeze and then wishes me luck before running back from where we came from. 

_Almost there._

“You have 10 seconds to come out or this child will die and we will continue to hunt you.”

The Nikto begins the countdown, and the little boy’s face holds such a horrified expression that I just know this will be worth it if he gets out alive.

When the Nikto reaches six, I put down my blasters and step out from behind the crates. I walk towards the road, my hands raised above my head. “I’m here. Don’t shoot the kid.”

All of them spin around to face me, their blasters and other weapons trained and ready. 

“Caj!” one of them cries, and the head Nikto turns his whole body to me slowly. He gives me an ugly smile as I approach and step into the sunlight. “Miss Arwen. I see that I was correct about how little you value your own life. Pathetic.”

I keep walking with my head down, staring at the gravel. I try to be as slow as possible, hoping Din is at least getting close to the ship.

“And where is the Mandalorian?”

I wait until I’m just a meter away from him, until I can see the wet tear tracks that are staining the boy’s skin. My head lifts and I look straight into Caj’s dark eyes, my expression blank. “He left me. A long time ago. It’s just me here.”

It takes a moment, but suddenly all of them start laughing hysterically, making me flinch. They go on for at least a minute, while I stay still and try to signal to the little boy that he’ll be alright.

“That’s very cute, Miss Arwen. But we both know that’s not true.”

“It-it is.”

“You expect me to believe that you went through all my men by yourself?”

I shrug, my arms still in the air. “I’m a skilled fighter.”

“Ah, yes, I know. That you are. However, I still don’t think you’re telling the truth.”

I hear the footsteps behind me just before something hard hits me in the back of my head and I drop to my knees, my face scrunched up from the waves of pain.

“Search the town,” I hear Caj say. “The Mandalorian can’t be far. Find him and bring him to me.”

I look up, watching the Niktos make their way down the main road and turn into other streets and houses. Hopefully, the villagers are far enough away by this point that they won’t be discoverable by these fuckers.

The little boy is thrown onto the ground beside me suddenly, and I finally lower my arms to help him. 

Caj points his blaster at me instantly. He’s far enough away that I know I can’t just reach up and take it out of his hands. He’ll be able to get me whichever way I move. Smart son of a mudscuffer.

“Don’t you dare move, Miss Arwen. I won’t hesitate to shoot you in the leg, or somewhere else insignificant.”

“I just want to help this boy, who you _promised_ to set free.”

He chuckles. “I said I’d release him if you turned yourselves in. _Both_ of you, not just one. And, actually, as punishment for that…”

My mind only gets about two seconds to piece together what’s about to happen before a blaster bolt cuts through the boy’s left hand, leaving behind nothing but a steaming stump at the wrist.

The howls of pain are so loud and so fucking terrible that I close my eyes as tears start to gather and I squeeze my fingers into fists to stop from getting up and punching the shit out of Caj. 

“If my men don’t find the Mandalorian within ten minutes, the boy’s dead.”

“I _told_ you, he left me! He’s not here!” I yell, my voice cracking.

“Be a good girl and shut your mouth.”

Curse after curse after curse screams out in my head at him, and I wish I could say all of them.

“It’ll be okay,” I try instead with the boy, keeping my voice steady. “You’ll be alright. Just a little longer and you’ll be back with your family. I-I swear.”

_Fuck, Din. Hurry up._

As if - almost - on cue, not two minutes later do I hear the sounds of engines, the sounds of my ship that send a tsunami of relief through my body. I spot it in the distance, nearing the village very quickly. 

The noise gets persistent and loud enough for Caj and the other Niktos to notice and look up, squinting in the sunlight.

“What in the…”

I see the shape of _The Casstian_ approaching the village from the air at a pretty low altitude, which is something they’ll no doubt realize soon. I turn my head ever so slightly, just to be able to see that Caj is distracted and staring at the sky.

I’m aware that this opportunity won’t last long at all, so I take the chance and in a second have my left hand wrapped around Caj’s blaster. I push it out of the way so he isn’t able to shoot me or the boy again.

Caj’s attention snaps back to me. He wrenches the gun out of my hand, but from my position below him, I’m able to get up on my feet and send my fist upwards into his jaw.

Caj stumbles back with a grunt. I spin and kick the hand that’s holding the blaster, just as rapid shooting ensues behind me. By the sound I know it’s my ship firing, so I maintain my attention on Caj, trusting that Din will handle the panicking Niktos in the village.

The blaster Caj was holding is on the ground and too far away for him to get to quickly. I swing my fist and punch him across the face but his own connects with my ribs mere milliseconds later. I grab the arm that hit me and send my knee up into the elbow, hearing the disturbing crack of bones and a satisfying cry of pain.

I push him away with a hard kick to the stomach and retrieve the blaster on the ground. Caj is holding his broken arm to his body, glaring at me as I lift the gun. “Don’t think this is the end, Arwen. There are plenty of other groups in the galaxy looking for you, who’ll be able to locate you no matter where you are. They will hunt you and kill you, so slowly that you’ll feel every single thing they do to you. You will wish you were dead.”

I stare at him for a bit longer, his rage-filled eyes bearing into mine.

One bolt through his knee. “That’s for the villagers.” Another through his stomach. “That’s for the boy.” I kneel down to his level and smile at him as he’s struggling to stay alive. I push the head of the blaster against his temple. “And this...is for screwing up my life.” One last one, and he’s dead.

I let his body drop.

The boy is whimpering on the ground, and I help him up to his shaking feet. “Hey, you’re okay now. Din and I are going to get you back to your family, alright?”

He doesn’t reply, just stares frighteningly at his stump. 

When I look up, I almost can’t recognize the village as the same one. Most of the buildings are half-destroyed and there are pieces of broken and charred wood, dust, and splinters everywhere. 

Din is just circling back around again to take out the rest of the Niktos. He nears one of the buildings and shoots into it multiple times, causing the whole thing to lean to the side, looking as if it’s going to give in and collapse any second.

I hold the boy to myself, trying to comfort him as best as I can while Din finishes up.

A much larger fire has started out where the restaurant was, and I know there’s basically no saving this village now. 

Finally, Din flies over to us and parks _The Casstian_ on the road. The ramp lowers and he comes running out toward us. “Hey, are you-” he stops when he notices the little boy and the forever-changed arm that he’s holding to his chest.

“I didn’t-I didn’t know Caj was going to do that,” I say, guilt flooding over me. “I-I-I wanted to help him, but-”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Din whispers, coming up to me and taking my face in his hands. I notice myself leaning into the touch, but I don’t tell him to stop. “The most important thing is that he’s alive, right? And now we’re going to take him to his family. We did it.”

I nod, staring at his chest. 

We board my ship and Din flies us in the direction of where the villagers went. Apparently, there’s another town not that far away where they’ll hopefully be able to stay and recover from this, as much as that's possible.

I spot the villagers a few klicks into the woods, all trudging along through the trees in a straight line and carrying as much as they can on their backs. Din lands a ways ahead of them.

When I open the door with the little boy by my side, I can almost immediately hear cries of utter joy and relief, and yes, I know that getting him here was worth everything.

A woman sprints from out of the line and meets the boy at the base of the ramp, hugging him tightly and crying. She seems to notice his missing hand, but doesn’t say anything. All she wants to do at this moment is convince herself that her son is alright, and I think that’s beautiful.

“Thank you,” she tells Din and me after a minute. “Thank you for bringing him back to me.”

We give her a small nod, and wait for the string of villagers to pass our ship. Most of them are sending us dirty, angry looks, which we deserve. Some are giving us sad smiles, and some just don’t look at all. The silence is heavy, and it takes too much out of me to look into every single pair of eyes that glance our way, but I do. It’s only fair and respectful to them. 

When all of them have passed and are out of sight behind the trees, we step back onto the ship and raise the door. 

Neither of us says anything. There’s nothing really to say, is there? 

Din approaches me and weaves his arms around my waist, pulling me against him. I rest my head on his chest, just below the bottom of his helmet.

_If I look up, I might see his chin._

But I don’t. We stand there, with my arms hanging loosely around his neck, and his own holding me close. My shoulder aches, but I don’t care. I’m embarrassed by how much I actually enjoy this. Maybe it’s just the stress of the last few hours or so, but it’s so comfortable that I can’t bring myself to wriggle out of his arms.

“We did the right thing by helping the kid,” he says suddenly, and I actually laugh. 

“Yeah, and _I_ was the one that made us do it. You wanted to leave him there with those monsters.”

“I know, but... _Maker_ , Andi, you have no idea how scared I was that you’d be dead once I got to the village. I don’t know what I would have done if you were.”

“You really, _really_ have to start trusting me, Din.”

“I trust _you_ , I just don’t trust the rest of the galaxy.”

I chuckle softly. “The rest of the galaxy has nothing on me”

And, for some reason, for some stupid fucking reason, it only _now_ dawns on me that Din was willing to let an innocent, 10-year-old kid die just to make sure I was safe, just to guarantee that I wasn’t going to get hurt any more than I already have been, or get killed. I both love and despise that fact.

Because, on one hand, I have someone by my side that cares and is able to balance out my impulsive nature. I have someone who is willing to fight with me and keep me safe. However, that only means that it makes me want him to stay even more, and that’s so incredibly dangerous that I almost make myself tell him to go right here and now, to get away from me and never come back.

Din finally lets go first. “I’ll quickly go back and get whatever stuff we left at the house and then get us in the air. You go clean yourself up.”

The burn on my shoulder doesn't look as bad as it felt and still feels. The cold water of the shower feels uncomfortable as fuck on the rest of my skin, but it’s heavenly against the wound. I wash my hair and body under the cool water, and then apply a sterile bandage against the burn once I’m out.

When I look in the small mirror I have, I nearly back away from the sight. I’m developing a serious black eye, and the shades of yellow, green, and black are kind of disgusting to look at. I press my fingers gently against it, but the spark of pain is instant.

_Now I have to walk around with what looks like a rotting face. Things just keep getting better and better._

We’re surrounded by emptiness and distant stars when I get out of the bathroom. Din is sitting in the pilot’s seat, entering coordinates into the hyperspace navigation computer.

“Where are we going?” I ask, running my fingers through my wet hair.

“This is a random location somewhere in the galaxy. If there was anyone left alive on Naboo, or anyone somehow still tracking us, they’ll follow us there.”

“And...why is that good?”

“We’re going to turn everything off and just drift for a little bit. Kill the signal and get them off our trail.”

“Huh. That might actually be a good idea.”

“I know, because it’s _my_ idea.”

“Shut up, Din.”

_Four laughs._

He pulls the lever and the cockpit is flooded with blue light. 

“What are we going to do afterward?” I ask, sitting down in the passenger chair.

“We’ll go see my friend Boba on Tatooine. Maybe he’ll be able to help us somehow.”

“I’m not sure I want to endanger any more people by asking them for help.”

“Don’t worry. This friend’s a lot more different than you think.”

\- - -

We exit hyperspace and Din turns off literally everything. Comms, radio, engines, even the lights. The silence of the ship is deafening as we start to simply float through the vacuum of space.

“Where are we?” I ask.

“I don’t know. Somewhere in the galaxy. Somewhere far away from Naboo. If anyone’s looking for our signal, then by the time they get here we’ll be long gone.”

I navigate my way through the dark, the emergency lights I have set up in the hull too dim to provide much illumination. It takes me a while, but I finally find the fruit we had recently bought on Naboo and bring two of the round, purple food back to the cockpit.

“Nice eye, by the way.”

“Shut up,” I mutter and drop into the chair.

I hand one of the fruits to Din and spin to face away from him. The quiet is a little off-putting, so I try to start a conversation.

“Hey, Din?”

“Yeah?”

My body freezes at the sound of his voice. His _actual_ voice, not the modulated one that I’ve grown so accustomed to listening to all the time. Hearing it like this feels strange and wrong, just like seeing his skin for the first time seemed like a criminal act.

“I, um...I was just going to say that you can have the bed. Whenever we go to sleep. I’ll take the floor.”

“That’s not happening.”

_Maker, it’s such a wonderful sound._

“Why not? You’ve been sleeping on the floor of our house back on Naboo for over a month. Your back must be killing you.”

“I’m okay. I want you to be comfortable.”

“Well, _I_ don’t want you to sleep on a hard surface anymore, so you’re getting the bed whether you like it or not. I’ll be comfortable either way.”

“Maybe we need to get a ship with two beds.”

I smile. “Maybe. But, I’m not giving up _The Casstian,_ so you’re just going to have to deal with this the way it is.”

\- - -

A few hours later, I finally feel my eyes start to close.

I get an extra pillow from the shelves in the one tiny bedroom and find a good place in the hull to settle.

Din comes in from the cockpit and looks down at me trying to find a comfortable position. “Just take the bed, Andi.”

“No.”

He watches me adjust the pillow and myself until I’m finally still. Din sighs heavily and proceeds to sit down next to me.

“Hey, hey, what the hell are you doing?”

“It’s either neither of us takes the bed or you do.”

I shake my head in disbelief. “You’re so fucking stubborn for no reason.”

“Have -”

“At this point, I’m convinced you’re trying to make me mad on purpose.”

“Have you considered the fact that maybe I also just want to be with you?”

No good response comes to mind. Maker, no response _at all_ comes to mind. I hadn’t thought about that at all, and yet, as he makes himself comfortable beside me, I reluctantly realize that I _do_ want him here instead of anywhere else. And with that, discussions about the bed cease.

It doesn’t come as a surprise when I feel Din’s fingers gently running through my hair, and I even convince myself to scooch up a little bit to let him know that I’m enjoying whatever it is he’s doing.

Even so, it doesn’t stop him from asking when he moves further down. “Can I…?”

I nod. I’m barely awake but fully conscious of the way he’s lightly tracing my cheekbones, then dragging his fingertips down and around my neck and up to my arm. 

I can feel goosebumps rise all over my skin as he touches it, and I’m wondering about what he’s thinking about right now, what he wants to do with me, what he wants to say.

_Maker, if only I knew._

_But...then what?_

\- - -

We play Dejarik for a long time when we wake up.

We’ve both gotten pretty good at the game and recognizing each other’s tactics, so the rounds either end in just a few minutes or get longer and more challenging as we try new things. Din and I are both competitive, which serves as great fuel for an interesting game.

We’re forced to play in the cockpit since that’s the only place with any kind of decent lighting. We set the board up on a few boxes so we could sit in the chairs instead of the floor. 

My legs are stretched out and are propped up on part of Din’s chair, right next to him.

I watch him as he thinks, Din’s whole body leaning forwards with his elbows on his knees. He’s twirling his fingers, too, and his leg is bouncing up and down slightly. I chuckle softly and shake my head, causing his head to lift up.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“No, tell me.”

“You just...you seem so invested in this. Like your life depends on winning this game.”

“My _pride_ does.”

He finally makes a move, which I can tell is stupid right as he’s commanding it, and my Monnok takes his last piece out in seconds. I throw my hands up in the air with a wide smile. “Ha! I win again.”

Din slaps my leg and curses. “Dank _farrik!_ That wasn’t fair.”

“How was that not fair?”

“I’m sure you cheated somewhere in there.”

“I don’t think there’s a way to cheat this game.”

“You’d find a way if you really wanted to beat me.”

“That’s true, I would. But, I can assure you, I did not, and you lost simply because you were too hungry for victory. And, I’m a better player than you.”

“We have to stop playing this game. You’re getting too cocky for your own good.”

I scoff. “If you say so. But what are we going to do instead? There’s not really that many sources of entertainment out here.”

Din doesn’t say anything, just leans back in his chair and looks at me. I stare back into his dark visor, still finding myself wishing I knew what colour his eyes were. 

His hand slides up my leg as far as it can reach, almost to my knee. “There are...other things we can do.”

My breath hitches in my throat and I swallow nervously as he stands up from his chair and trails his hand all the way up my leg, past my knee and thigh, and only stopping when he gets to the very top. 

My eyes flick up to him as he towers over me, his fingers lingering. He must be waiting for me, because my legs are still crossed and closed, restricting his hand to travel anywhere else.

I think about it for a moment, wondering if this is really what I want and if this is really what Din wants to do with me. My heart is pounding so fast and hard that I swear Din can hear it, or at least detect the suddenly accelerated beats. 

I must take too long, because Din starts to pull his hand away and step back. It’s almost automatic, how fast I grab it back. “No, don’t.”

“We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, Andi,” he says quietly. “I'm sorry if I misread anything from before, I-”

“No...you didn’t. Ever, misread anything. I think.”

He doesn’t speak for a moment, both my hands still gripping his one. “Does this mean I can...touch you?”

I want to think it over for longer but my head is nodding up and down, and I decide to just try to relax for once and let my concerns go.

That’s all it takes, apparently, because immediately he slips both of his gloves off and returns his right hand to my upper thigh. His left rests on the back of the chair above me. I smile and uncross my legs, allowing him to slowly slide his hand to my inner thigh.

I inhale sharply as his fingers brush past my pussy, still two layers away from actual contact, but enough to get me to shudder.

He leans down and whispers in my ear, “Open your legs up more for me.” I can almost hear the sly smile behind his words.

I do what he says, giving him as much access as possible. His thumb locates my clit through the fabric and he applies a little pressure. My eyes close and my jaw drops, the subtle but powerful feeling enough to send my mind into a frenzy.

_Maker-_

He rubs little circles into me, and I can’t help but release a quiet moan. I'm swamped with embarrassment immediately but Din chuckles softly before stopping his movements.

_That’s five._

Din’s hand moves up to the hem of my pants and his fingers pull the fabric lightly away from my skin. “If I do something that you don’t like, or if it hurts, or if you simply want to stop, you tell me. Okay?”

I nod again, squirming in the chair from the lack of contact.

I watch as he slowly unzips my pants, taking his sweet fucking time. “Fuck...hurry - hurry up.”

“Patience, Andi," his voice low. "Let me have my fun. I've been waiting to do this to you.”

_Waiting, huh? Fuck, Maker._

I know I’m enjoying this, and I know I don’t want him to stop. I’m sure that later I’ll be chastising myself for letting him touch me like this and giving in to the temptation. But, right now, all I can think about is Din Djarin’s fucking fingers sliding into my pants and my fast, heavy breaths, and the way he just knows how good he looks standing over me like this and leaving me completely helpless, completely available for him to do whatever he wants.

And it’s all so fucking _good,_ and-

Beeping. 

Lots and lots and lots of rapid beeping.

Din’s hand pulls away instantly and I jump out from my chair, disoriented and frustrated.

It takes me a good few seconds to understand what’s happening.

“What is this?” Din asks.

“Shit, shit, shit.” I zip up my pants and get back into the pilot’s chair, powering everything on. My hands are shaking slightly as I navigate around the display, and I have to force myself not to squirm around in my chair from the terribly uncomfortable tingling between my legs.

The ship comes alive all around us.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, what the hell are you doing?”

“The alarm, Din. It’s built in to detect nearby spacecraft when the main computer is turned off. There’s someone close by.”

I turn on the display and activate the scanners.

“Get us out of here, then!”

“I’m trying, I’m trying.”

I push one of the levers on my left and the ship begins to accelerate and move forwards. The scanners beep once, and I look. Sure enough, there’s a small shuttle following us, an old Imperial one by the looks of it. It’s getting closer and closer by the second.

“Din, hyperspace!”

“Hold on, it’s calculating. How the hell did they find us?”

“Advanced tracking systems? I don’t fucking know, let’s just go!”

I steer left as the first few blaster bolts zoom past us. I grip the handles tightly, my knuckles turning white. I’m so fucking tired of this.

“Din, come _on!”_

“Okay, I got it!”

I glance at the coordinates before he pulls the lever, coordinates I know are close to Tatooine, and we’re off.

I fall back into my chair, sighing. “Why did I actually think we were going to have some peace again? Even for a little bit?”

“Me, too.”

“Do you...do you think we’re ever going to find a place where we can forget about all of this shit and just...live?”

Din turns to me. “Maybe in a few hundred years.”

I laugh, but he’s probably not even wrong.

\- - -

The moment is clearly ruined. Neither of us says anything as we travel the rest of the way through hyperspace and emerge above the bright planet of Tatooine. I don’t mind, because I still need time to process it, as well as accept the fact that I’m extremely disappointed we didn’t get to finish what we started.

I maneuver the ship all the way to the other side of Tatooine, away from Mos Eisley and anyone that might be watching for us. I’ve never really been to this side of the planet, but from what I know and can now see, there’s not much out here other than sand, rocks, and a bunch of creatures and natives I would rather not get involved with.

“So, where are we going?”

“Jabba’s palace.”

I spin my head around to look at him, confused and shocked at the same time. “What?”

“That’s where my friend Boba is right now. He owns the place now, I think.”

“But...Bib Fortuna took over when Jabba died.”

“And Boba killed Fortuna recently, making it his.”

I turn my attention back to flying, a little amazed. “That’s some friend you have.”

We enter the planet and I stay relatively high up in the air as I fly all the way back in the direction of Mos Eisley. 

Din starts fiddling with his wrist piece, and after a moment of silence, he brings it up to the front of his helmet and says, “Fett, are you receiving?”

There's static, and then, _“Loud and clear.”_

“Okay, good. We’re approaching Jabba’s palace. Is it okay if we stop by for a bit?”

_“Sure. You’ve had quite a rough time recently, huh?”_

“Yeah, it hasn’t been that fun.”

“Hey,” I whisper and I punch him playfully in the arm. 

_“You’re clear to come in. Land on the plateau overlooking the palace. From there, you’ll find a staircase going down to a cliffside path that’ll take you right to the front entrance.”_

“Thank you, Fett.”

“Fett?” I ask as he hangs up.

“Boba Fett.”

“Curious name.”

Jabba’s palace is still the same as how I remember it. Bleak and old and eerie just as it was the only other time I’ve ever seen it. I don’t know why anyone would want to live here, especially because it’s so empty all around and there’s absolutely nothing for klicks and klicks.

But, maybe that’s the whole point.

I land the ship on a plateau right next to the structure, just like Boba said. The overwhelming heat of Tatooine hits me as soon as the ramp starts to lower. Naboo was hot, but it was never as bad as this. 

Din begins to put on his Beskar, which I’m actually not used to anymore from how little he’s been wearing it as of late. As I watch him cover himself up with the metal, I’m weirdly unhappy about it, I realize. It’s like, I’ve spent so much time with him on Naboo and learned many things, I’ve seen him so often with just his clothes and helmet on, that somehow him putting it all back onto his body is like him closing himself off again to me. I know it’s stupid, but it’s as if it’s the end of this nice little period of time where he wasn’t just a Mandalorian to me, but also, and only, Din Djarin. 

“You ready?” I ask.

He sheathes his spear and holsters his blaster. “Ready.”

We exit _The Casstian_ and I lock it up, taking a second to inhale the dry, plain smell of the planet. 

“Oh, and…” Din starts as the door closes. “Don’t think I’m done with you quite yet.”

I feel like I want to say something, so I open my mouth but no words come out. He begins the walk to the palace, leaving me speechless behind him. 

_How did he become even more impossible?_

We travel down the rocky steps that Boba told us about. They’re old and crumbling, the bits of stone and dust crackling under our steps. I have to take my jacket off halfway down, the heat of the two suns bearing down quite hard on us. It's all quiet, and I find myself longing for the peace on Naboo that I have become so used to.

Eventually, we reach the bottom of the steps. A narrow path opens up and runs on the side of the plateau. There’s no guard rail or protection, and it’s pretty fucking high up from the ground, so I try not to look down as we walk along. Keeping one hand on the stone wall seems to help as we walk.

“Why does Boba want this place?” I ask Din as we get close to the main entrance of the palace.

“I’m not sure. Maybe it’s something personal, something to do with his past. Maybe he’s getting some kind of financial gain from it. You don’t take over a place like this just because you feel like it. Either way, I don’t know. I didn’t really ask when we parted ways.”

My curiosity regarding this Boba Fett only grows stronger by the minute. “Is he a bounty hunter, too?”

“Yes. Or, at least, he was. A while ago. He’s a clone, too.”

“A cl - what? Like, from the Clone Wars all those years ago?”

“Ever met one before?”

“No, can’t say I have.”

“Well, you’re about to.”

I turn my gaze up ahead of us, where the large front doors are opening up and a figure is coming out of the darkness inside. I squint in the sunlight, trying to make out their features.

I honestly don’t know what I was expecting, but another Mandalorian was definitely not it. His armour isn’t silver like Din’s, but more of a blue-green with some red lining here and there. Some of his accessories differ from those of Din’s, like a contraption on his right knee that looks like a weapon of sorts. It’s actually very intriguing to see another Mandalorian, and even more interesting that this one is supposedly a clone.

He waits for us by the opening to the building and shakes Din’s hand the moment we get close enough. I stand behind Din, looking his friend up and down.

“How have you been, Fett?”

“Ah, you know. The usual. Well compared to you, that's for sure.” Boba’s head turns a little, now looking directly at me. “And who are _you ?”_

The question seems like it would sound rude, but Boba’s voice is laced with wonder and maybe even amazement as Din steps aside and I reach out my hand to shake his. 

“Andromeda Arwen,” I say as he takes it. “Call me Andi.”

“Andi. Sure. That's a hell of a bruise you got there.”

"Oh, yeah. It's part of my style. I just think it makes me more intimidating to my enemies."

Boba looks at Din. “You found yourself a good one.”

I can feel heat rise to my cheeks as Din shakes his head slightly and sets his hand against my back, pushing me along. We follow Boba into the building, the air significantly cooler in here for some reason. It’s really spacious, with the arched walls reaching high up above us. It’s also dark, and the lack of many windows still puts me on edge to this day, more so now because I’m actually in the palace this time. It's a lot emptier than I expected it to be, but just as miserable. All the stories I've heard about this place weren't exaggerating.

We go up a long set of stairs, Din and Boba chatting about something ahead of me.

“Still haven’t heard anything from your little green guy or the Jedi?”

 _The_ Jedi? _How many more absurd and crazy things do I not know about Din’s past?_

Din sighs. “No. I don’t expect to if I’m being honest. I was hoping that I could go looking for him once I got a new ship, but...with the shit Andi and I are in right now, it’s unlikely I can do that anytime soon, and safely.”

“I see. I’m sorry about that. At least you know he’s no longer in any danger.”

“Yeah.”

It goes silent for a minute. 

“Hey, Boba?”

He turns his head to the side.

“I hope I'm not being too invasive, but Mando told me you’re a clone. Is that true?”

“My father was the original donor. He requested for one unaltered clone to be given to him, for him to raise as his own son. I never fought in the Clone Wars as the others did.”

 _How peculiar._ “Have you ever met any of the ones that did?”

“A few. Never stayed around too long to make friends, though.”

_Would he show me his face if I asked, or he is like Din? He has Mandalorian armour on, after all...but not all Mandalorians are like Din, or at least that's what he told me. So, maybe Boba wouldn't mind lifting his helmet and giving me a peek. I've never seen any of the clones in person, either, so it would be quite interesting._

We reach the top of the stairs and go down a long hallway. I glance out the tiny holes for windows in the wall. We’re so high up that I can only see a few tips of rocky hills and a vast sky. Boba leads us down a short staircase that curves slightly, through an archway, and we arrive in a much smaller room. 

I notice that most of the floor is stone save for a square-shaped spot that’s a metal grate. I peer into the holes, and I see a wall of sharp rocks reaching down to the ground, but it’s far down below. _Th_ _is must be where Jabba trapped all the prisoners he didn’t need alive, just like people always talked about._

“Where’s Fennec?” Din asks, inspecting the large stone throne that’s standing before the grate. Bib Fortuna must have been _fat_ if he needed a chair that big.

“Out on an errand. So, do you need a new ship, then?”

“Well, Andi and I are traveling together for now. I personally don’t need one currently, but it’s definitely a lot safer to get a replacement for the both of us.”

“What?” I pipe up, looking away from the grate. “Why?”

“Think about it, Andi. Those Niktos were able to track us somehow, right? Besides, so many people who want to kill us have seen the ship we use, so if we want any kind of shot at avoiding more conflict, we need something new to travel in.”

“He’s right,” Boba’s gruff voice says. “You’re much safer that way.”

“But - but...I-” 

_I can’t abandon_ The Casstian. _I can’t just leave my ship somewhere forever and let it rot…_

“I can’t do that.”

“I know you’ve probably spent a lot of your life on it,” Din says, in a tone sadder than I’ve heard it before. “I know you’re probably attached to everything about it. But, at some point, we’re going to be found by certain people that we won’t be able to fight off, and getting a new ship might just let us live a little longer. You’re smart enough to understand, Andi.”

“Obviously, I fucking understand, Mando.”

“I can give you credits. Lots of them. Mos Eisley has a decent selection of ships. I'll take one of you there and you’ll pick one you like.”

I cross my arms and turn away from them, walking up to a little window and pressing my forehead against the wall next to it. 

_All of this has already fucked up so much for me...and now it’s going to take away my home?_

“What if we, I don’t know...get something that will scramble our signal, something that will cloak the ship?”

“It won’t be good enough, Andi. Besides, not only are quality devices of those kinds incredibly difficult to find, I’m willing to bet that they’re expensive, too. Our best shot is something new and unfamiliar to people wanting to find us.”

I groan, kicking a rock across the floor. “Are people really _that_ desperate to find us? Maybe we can-”

“Andi, are you already forgetting the chaos we went through before hiding on Naboo? Or what those Niktos did to the villagers who helped us? I find it hard to believe, too, but even after all this time, we are still not safe.”

My mind plays back what Caj told me before I killed him, about people hunting us down and torturing us until we were wishing we were dead, and then _actually_ dead. A shiver runs through me and I hug my arms. "This isn't fair."

"None of this is fucking fair, Andi. But there's nothing we can do except our best to stay safe. We don't have to leave _The Casstian_ behind forever. Just...for a while, until things calm down. And when they do, you can come back for it."

I think Din and I both know that we won't be able to return to it for a long time. If there are people tracking it, there's also a really high chance that it'll be dismantled, wrecked, or stolen by the time we decide it's safe enough to take it back. I sigh, dropping my arms. I wonder what would have happened if I never decided to eat in that damn cantina all those weeks ago, if I didn't pay attention to Din when he walked in...hell, if I didn't even take the job. Actually, I don't even need to wonder, because I know exactly where I'd be right now. I'd be flying through space in the security and comfort of my ship, picking up small quarries here and there and earning credits, enjoying my life as much as I can. I wouldn't be worried about random people chasing after me, I wouldn't have to exist in a turbulent river of questions and concerns regarding Din and my relationship with him, I wouldn't have to guess about his mysterious past with the Empire and Jedi. It would just be me. Just me and my ship and the galaxy. All it took was one stupid decision and my entire life flipped upside down. And now...I honestly don't know if things can ever get back to normal.

I genuinely think that if I got the chance, I would go back and not talk to Jass Nim about the important job he had for 50,000 credits. I don't regret anything that's happened with Din, and I don't want to lose him or what we have, but I miss my old quiet life so much that it hurts. It probably wasn't worth entangling Din with me anyway. He would have been able to do the job properly by himself, take his money, get a new ship, and be well on his way. Instead, he's here with me, running away from people we don't even know or have seen yet for...Maker, it could be for _years_ to come.

And for that, I realize, I owe him a huge fucking favour. "Okay, I...I guess we're getting a new ship, then."

They both nod. "I'll take one of you to Mos Eisley tomorrow," Boba states. "Probably best to take you, Andi. You'll be less noticeable. From there, you should be good to go wherever you want. Now, come. I have food for you."

Boba leaves the room, but Din and I stay behind. He comes up to me. "I'm sorry. I know how you feel."

"Do you?"

He sighs heavily. "Yeah. I do."

I press myself against him and he wraps his arms around me instantly. "Where do you want to go first in our new vessel?"

Din laughs. _Six._ "I don't know. I've kind of been everywhere."

I close my eyes and think. "How about...Mandalore?"

"Wh - what? Why?"

"Why not? I want to see your home."

"I'm not from Mandalore."

"But-"

"Mandalorian isn't a race. It's a creed. I was a Foundling, so I never grew up on the planet."

"Oh." I'm glad to be learning more about him, even though I know there's still a whole ocean's worth of information I'm unaware of.

"Besides, right now's not the best time for tourism on Mandalore."

"How so?"

"It's...a long story."

"Right. Everything's a long story with you."

Din releases his arms and steps back from me, holding my shoulders and looking down at me. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"We've been together for so long, and you've still barely told me anything about your past. I know you don't have to, but...it feels like you're hiding stuff from me. You're ready to finger me, but not open up?"

I can't hold back a smile at the way Din tenses up. "Okay, well...uh - I, uh...I'll tell you eventually, I swear. It's just a bit of a fresh wound. I know you can understand, you've put up with me all this time."

"Alright. Sure." I'm still just as curious, but his promise helps to somewhat balance the growing impatience inside of me. "I'll remember this."

"I'm sure you will."

Din's hands let go of me, but he doesn't move from the spot. I can see my reflection in his visor, and the darkness that surrounds my right eye is honestly nothing short of frightening. How he's managing to keep his eyes on me, I don't know. Maybe he isn't, there's no way to tell.

I hear something clattering in the distance, which reminds me where we are and what we're doing. "We should probably go," I tell him and start to move, but Din grabs my hand and pulls me back.

"Wait!" he shifts from foot to foot. "I wanted to ask if I could do something."

I shrug. "What is it? And hurry up, I don't want to keep Boba waiting."

"Can you...close your eyes?"

My eyebrows knit together, but I do as he says. 

"Promise you'll keep them closed?"

"What are you doing?"

"Just promise, for Maker's sake."

"Okay, okay. I promise."

For a moment, everything is quiet, and I'm both confused and a little scared. But then, the sound of a click, as if something is unlocking, and a little shuffling noise. 

My mouth drops as it comes to me.

I can open my eyes, right here and now, _right fucking now,_ and I'll see Din Djarin's face. I'll see the brown curls that I've only been able to touch for a few seconds, I'll see his stubble, I'll see the shape of his face, and oh, _Maker,_ I'll finally see the colour of his eyes. I can do it, I have all the power to just raise my eyelids and see, because he's _right in front of me_ and looking at my face directly instead of through a dark visor, and it would be _so easy_ to just _look_...but, as always, I don't. I clear my throat and keep my eyes closed, waiting for whatever it is he wants to do.

My body flinches slightly as both of his hands come to cup my cheeks as they've done before, holding them so gently and sweetly.

And...

It's almost as if I can feel his entire body coming closer, his shadow spreading over me. My mind doesn't process any of it, though. It doesn't process the tingling sensation as his hair grazes my forehead for the first time, it doesn't process the way his hands shift around slightly as his elbows bend, or the sounds of all of his armour and accessories moving against each other as he moves.

No, I don't get the chance to understand or register _any_ of that before he locks my lips with his.


	9. Chapter 9

**9**

* * *

_Electrifying._

No, that’s not it.

_Intoxicating._

Mm, that’s part of it, but not really what I’m looking for. 

It’s good, yes. It’s so damn good that I don’t want it to ever end, I don’t want this feeling that’s coursing through me to go away. I haven’t felt something quite like this in a while, and it’s foreign but so welcoming and safe.

I mean, there’s a lot of shit raging in me currently, everything from fear and joy and concern and relief and...so, so many different things that cloud everything.

And, yet...

_Right._

Yes, there it is. That’s the word. It feels so _right,_ as if I was always meant to do this. It sounds terribly tacky and naive, but it seems more true than anything else.

It’s like there’s no reason for me to even question what I want anymore. Din Djarin is right here, he’s still by my side after all this time and he’s fucking _kissing_ me, Maker. Doesn’t that stand for something?

And it’s not like I’ve never kissed anyone before. I’ve done plenty of shit with other guys. The difference is, though, it never meant anything. People have tried to stay in touch, but I always refused attachment. 

Yet, here I am.

It’s almost unfair, isn’t it? I didn’t even get a choice whether or not I wanted to get close to Din. The universe just shoved the two of us one day on a path and left us alone to walk it together. I could have always left, I guess, but that wouldn’t have been very honorable of me. Besides, I know for a fact Din would never have abandoned _me,_ even if he wanted to go off on his own.

Yes, Maker. This is right. All of this is so, so _right._

If there is anyone in the entire galaxy who is worth setting aside all my strict rules, worth risking fucking everything, worth putting myself in the middle of danger and uncertainty, it’s Din. It’s clearly, without a string of doubt in mind, Din.

I have this epiphany all in the span of about five seconds.

Din’s lips are still pressed against mine, warm and soft and gentle. _He_ does _have facial hair,_ I think amusingly. The stubble tickles my skin a bit, but I don’t mind. I relax all the tensed muscles in my face and body and let myself almost sink into him as I return the kiss.

My arms come up and my fingers subconsciously start winding their way through his hair. As soon as he gets the message that I’m alright with this, he kisses me a little harder, with so much more passion and almost _lust._ It takes me by surprise, but I quickly begin to kiss him back with the same desire, same growing and desperate hunger. It feels like we didn’t know that we’ve always been waiting for this, and now that we’re here, it’s as if something powerful has been unleashed.

I keep my eyes closed. I’m pretty distracted so I don’t feel the urge to look as much, but I wonder if he’s opening his every so often to make sure I’m not peeking, or if he’s just as enthralled with me as I am with him. 

Eventually, he pulls away from me. It’s all too soon, way too fucking soon. I’m not ready to stop, not even close, but he presses his forehead - his bare forehead - against mine and laughs. _Seven._

“What?” I whisper, a smile growing immediately on my face.

“You’re wonderful, that’s all.”

 _Fuck._ His unfiltered voice so close to me is like music to my ears, a symphony of the most beautiful notes in existence all playing in harmony with each other to produce something magnificent. I want to keep him talking. “You really should have done that sooner.”

“I know. I know, I just...wasn’t sure if you would have been okay with it. We haven’t known each other for that long, anyway.”

“You’re right. You might be a ruthless murderer just gaining my trust so you can kill me in the worst way possible.”

 _Eight._ “But, seriously...I didn’t overstep, did I?”

“Are you kidding? If anything, you stopped too soon.”

Not two seconds go by before Din’s kissing me again, but gently and slowly like the first time, making it long and sweet.

Din drags his lips off of mine and then trails his thumb across my bottom one before letting me go. The echoes of his touch remain on my skin for a few seconds longer.

“I’d love to keep going, but we have a lot of things to do.”

“Give me one more.” The sentence bursts out before I can stop it, and I have to force myself to stay put and not walk away from the embarrassment that just came over me.

“No, we have to go. There’s always time later. Control yourself.” I can hear the little smirk behind his words.

My jaw drops. I’m both amused and shocked at the same time. _“Me_ control myself? Let’s not forget who initiated all of this in the first place.”

Din moves closer to me, his body pressing lightly against mine. I can feel his hair tickle my cheek a second before he whispers, “Don’t pretend like you didn’t like it, Andi.”

He says it right in my ear, and _Maker,_ I almost crumple from the shivers that spread through me. How did he go from the silent, brooding, rude fucker I met in a dirty cantina on Tatooine to _this?_ I put my hands on his chest and push him away, pursing my lips to resist a smile. “Just put your damn helmet back on.”

I wait to hear the soft familiar click of his helmet adjusting and his confirmation, just to be safe, before opening my eyes.

It’s almost disappointing to see him with that metal around his head again. With what happened in these last couple of minutes, I somehow managed to forget that he’d have to put it back on at one point.

“Anyways,” I say after a moment of silence. “We should…get back to Boba.”

“Yeah. We should.”

I clear my throat and give him a small nod, turning my back and heading off to where Boba went. Din’s steps follow close behind me.

\- - -

I haven’t seen many ships like Boba’s Firespray-31, so it’s quite a pleasant surprise when we go out the back exit an hour or so later and find it parked there in the sand. 

It’s clearly old, as I can tell from the chipped paint and rust, but still a beauty. I tilt my head up as we near it, inspecting the unique design and structure of the vehicle. “How long have you had her for?”

“She’s called the _Slave 1._ It was my father’s before it was mine, he owned it before the Clone Wars even began.”

“Whoa. She’s in good shape for being over 30 years old.”

“I’ve been doing my best to take care of her.”

I give the _Slave 1_ a last look before turning to Din and Boba. It’s interesting how alike they are on the surface side by side, yet so different at the same time.

“Well, we’ll be off, then.”

“Don’t get into trouble,” Din says, crossing his arms. “Be careful and make it fast.”

“Don’t worry. Everything will be fine. Get everything on _The Casstian_ ready to move while we’re gone so we can leave quickly.”

Boba climbs the ramp of the ship and opens the door, a small hiss escaping. “Better leave now,” he calls down before disappearing inside.

“Stay safe,” Din states.

“Always do. See you soon, tin can.”

I don’t allow him the chance to respond to the nickname and hastily follow Boba into the _Slave 1_ , closing the door behind me.

\- - -

Boba instructs me over the ship’s PA to crawl through the hole in the floor - which has a ladder going through it - and head to the cockpit, the second last room from the top. I still can’t quite fully grasp the design of this ship. _Who made it this complicated? Who came up with this?_

Boba’s already settled in the cockpit when I get there. I tilt my head all the way up as I stand, the vast blue sky all I can see through the window, with the exception of part of a mountain and some of Jabba’s palace on the sides.

“Strap in,” he says, pointing to the chair next to him. He fires up all the engines and activates the computers, the ship coming alive around us.

I get settled in and wait as the _Slave 1_ lifts off the ground, looking up at the window as we rise. Soon enough, the entire room starts rotating as the ship goes from the horizontal landing position to the vertical flying one. 

“Whoa,” I whisper as the window moves to the front, now displaying the Tatooine landscape fully. “Never seen anything like this.”

“Glad you’re impressed.”

We fly in silence for a bit. I want to bring up the question about his Mandalorian ties, but I also don’t want to offend him or pry.

I can see in my peripheral vision as Boba turns his head slowly towards me and looks at me for a second. I’m used to it; Din does it to me all the time, although to this day I wish I knew what sort of expressions he has under there because it’s quite agonizing not to know if he’s angry, or judgmental, or curious, or just glancing in my direction.

“Are you nervous?” Boba says suddenly, completely calm.

“What? I’m sorry?”

“Your hand.”

I frown and look down, only just realizing that I’ve been tapping my fingers against my leg rapidly. I stop and instead clasp my hands together.

“Uh, I don’t know. I guess I’m just really unsure about what Mando and I are going to do.”

“Mm. I’m sure you’ll figure something out.”

Maybe this is a good opportunity to get to know Boba better. It’ll probably be my _only_ opportunity for a long time.“Have you...known him long?”

“Not at all. We met less than a couple of months ago.”

“Oh. Well, he seems to have a lot of trust in you. I assumed you’ve been friends for a while.”

“We’ve been through a lot in our short time together, we helped each other. More like _I_ helped _him,_ but he knows he owes me.”

I smile. “Maybe we can both repay that favor sometime. Doesn’t seem like we’ll be apart from each other for quite a bit.”

Boba doesn’t say anything for a moment, and then responds with, “You stay with him, he’s been through a lot. He needs someone by his side right now.”

“You know what happened to him?”

“I was there for part of it, and I know the story. I know what he’s going through, and I can assure you it’s nothing pleasant.”

“Thank you. For letting me know.”

_The wound is fresher than I thought. Whatever happened to Din could’ve taken place right before he met me, so the chances of him opening up to me anytime soon are slim._

_Oh, don’t be so fucking selfish, Andromeda. If Din wants to talk, he’ll talk. Your curiosity can wait._

I clear my throat. “So, are you a real Mandalorian?” Maybe switching the subject will help ease the tension I’m feeling a little bit, considering Boba doesn’t get pissed off.

“I never swore any kind of creed, I’m not part of any clan. My father was a Mandalorian, but I don’t associate myself with any groups. I wear this armor to honor him.”

“Oh, I see. So...you _could_ technically take your helmet off, right? In front of me, I mean.”

“I could.” He chuckles softly. “What, your Mandalorian not satisfying your needs?”

I keep my eyes straight and my expression blank, even though I know my cheeks are turning red. “No, I just...I was just wondering, because Mando seems to lead a whole different way of life than you do. Plus, I’ve...never seen a clone.”

“You can always stay with me, princess, if you’re so desperate. He can find himself another partner.”

_Fucking hell._

I assume he’s joking, although without seeing him I can’t fully tell. “Thanks for the offer, Boba,” I say with a laugh, “But I think I’m alright.”

“Suit yourself.”

We chat for a little more about nothing in particular. Tatooine’s climate, systems we’ve both visited. Talking with Boba is easy, even though it seems like he’s got a wall built up around him that nobody can break through. I know things about his past, but it’s like he keeps himself well guarded and refrains from saying or doing anything that will expose him too much. 

Sounds very familiar.

We arrive in Mos Eisley sooner than I expect. I chew on my thumbnail as we fly above the streets, all piled with civilians. There could be anyone down there, any sort of dangerous criminal ready to kill me or Din on sight.

_“Firespray-31 craft, come in.”_

“This is Boba Fett's _Slave 1,_ reporting in,” Boba answers the radio. “Requesting access to the hangar bay.”

 _“Please reduce your speed and stand by.”_ The ship slows to a crawl and we steadily float above the different hangars. I can’t see directly below us from where I’m sitting, but I can already see it’s just as crowded as any day in Mos Eisley, even more so.

_“Slave 1, please proceed to hangar bay 37.”_

“Copy that, thank you.”

I duck down in the chair a bit and attempt to cover my face as Boba lands, using the display on the control panel. He tilts the _Slave 1_ until it’s horizontal and the room rotates once again. The window moves back to face the sky, so I don’t really have to hide. Still, I feel like someone’s going to be able to tell that I’m here and attack me the moment I step into the sunlight.

“Hey, Boba? What’s your plan for getting me around Mos Eisley undetected?”

“I have a cloak for you so you can cover yourself. Otherwise, you’ll be just fine if you stick with me. I’m quite well known around here, you’ll find.”

I check that I have all of Din and I’s credits with me as Boba retrieves a cloak from the living quarters, the last level at the very top of the ship. I wait by the main door anxiously, taking deep breaths, and try to distract myself by thinking about what kind of ships will be available, and for what price? I don’t know how many credits Boba has, but my 20,000 is not nearly enough for any kind of decent ship.

Boba returns soon enough, and I throw the dark fabric around my body and over my head, concealing myself entirely. I hand him my 20,000 credits.

“Remember, just stay close to me and keep your head down. The shipyard isn’t far.”

I wrap the cloak around myself as much as I can and stare at the ground as we walk off the _Slave 1_ and into the hangar bay. Boba pays the worker briskly and we’re off, maneuvering through several other bays before entering the busy streets of Mos Eisley.

I make sure to at least keep Boba’s legs in my sight so as not to lose him in the insane crowd. One glance up and it can all be over. The sand is bright against my eyes from the intense sunlight beating down on the city, but I don’t dare look anywhere else.

It doesn’t take me very long to notice the feet of the people around us moving back, stepping away from me as I walk by. Usually, everybody shoves past each other and give zero fucks about others’ space. This time, it’s like a walkway is being formed just for me, and people are quieting their loud chatter as they wait for me to pass.

I’m incredibly confused at first until I remember what Boba told me. 

_“I’m quite well known around here, you’ll find.”_

I quicken my pace so I’m walking right beside him and lean in. “Are they moving because of you?”

“I told you. People don’t mess with me if they know what’s good for them.”

Din couldn’t have found a better person to help us. Something tells me that even if I’m discovered, Boba will be able to protect me with just his presence, and that eases my nerves substantially.

Boba wasn’t wrong; the shipyard is pretty close to the hangar bays. I’ve spent a lot of time on Tatooine, but I’ve had my own ship and kept it in very good condition so I never visited the place. It’s not much in terms of an actual established yard, but the selection is quite something. A few dozen ships of all different kinds are lined up in rows, some a lot bigger than others, some more ideal for combat rather than simple transportation. I can’t help but raise my head a little and peek at all the vessels, impressed and amazed by the variety.

“Boba,” I whisper, tapping him on the arm. “How many credits do you have?”

“Enough.”

The answer is terribly vague and unsatisfying, but I let him have it. I just hope we’re able to find something of quality that will hold up for at least a few years.

I wonder if Din and I will even still be together in that long. Will he leave me to go in search of whoever he and Boba were talking about? Will he get tired of running and go off on his own? Are we still going to be living in hiding and constantly looking over our shoulders? Surely, this whole thing can’t last _that_ long, though. Can it? Lately, it hasn’t seemed like the future holds a lot of positive things for us, but this problem won’t drag on for years. It simply can’t. It’ll go away soon enough, and then…

And then what? What’s going to happen? What are we going to do? 

“Okay, quiet,” Boba whisper - shouts to me, ripping me out of my thoughts. I tilt my head down and immediately a rough but enthusiastic voice fills my ears.

“Ah, Boba!” the creature exclaims with a chortle. “I haven’t seen you here in a long time! How have you been, my friend, how have you been? And who is this?”

“I’m fine, Ceero, and don’t pay her any attention. She is of no importance.” I don’t move a muscle as a few seconds of painful silence stretch on.

“Well, Boba, I assume you are in need of a ship, yes? Come, come. Let us see what we have.”

We begin to walk among the rows, and it takes all of my willpower not to look up and admire everything around me. Some of the types I see haven’t been in production for years and years, and it’s so tempting to stop and examine these old models.

“So, what kind of ship are you looking for, hm? We have fighters, gunships, transports.”

“I need something that can stand its ground in a battle if need be, but is always ideal for living and traveling in for long periods of time.”

“What would you need such a ship for, huh, Boba?” he chuckles. “Aren’t you settled in at Jabba’s old palace or somethin’?”

“That’s irrelevant, Ceero. My business is my business.”

The Toydarian - at least, that’s what I think he is based on the sound of his voice and the fact that I don’t see any legs - stumbles over his next few words, and I even detect a shred of fear. “I - yes, of course, of course, of course, my friend! I was just curious, you can understand. Not much happens around here, unfortunately. I think I might have something that suits your needs perfectly.”

Ceero leads us past a few old gunships - _Republic_ gunships, by the looks of them - and straight to the complete other end of the rows. I keep my head down and my eyes on Boba’s boots, inspecting his knee rockets. We stop pretty unexpectedly, though, and I smack straight into Boba.

“A light freighter, huh?” he says, as normally as if he didn’t notice me crashing into him.

Light freighter. I’ve never flown one or paid any attention to them, but I’ve heard good things about their convenient designs. 

“It’s in top - tier condition, Boba. You will not be disappointed, trust me on this. Comfortable living space, fully - functional and fast weapons system, and lots of room for storage.”

I can see Boba turn his body towards me. “You. Go inside and ensure that this freighter will suit my purposes well while Ceero and I discuss the matter of payment. Be quick.”

I give him a curt nod before scurrying off to the ship. It is only when I have climbed the lowered ramp and left their sights do I lower my hood. The entrance hall is small and narrow, but past it is a spacious circular room with cushioned chairs and a table set up in the center. To the left is a hallway leading to a bathroom and three separate living quarters. Each of the rooms contains a spot for a bed and some extra space. It’s quite nice, actually. As much as I detest the idea of switching _The Casstian_ for something else, this might not be so bad. 

To the right of the lounge is a ladder going down to a small cargo hold, currently dark and empty. I’m slightly amazed at all the room this ship has. I’ve spent most of my life on _The Casstian,_ which contained one small bedroom, a bathroom, and a hull. I don’t have nearly enough possessions to use all this space up.

The cockpit might be my favorite part, though. It sits straight ahead through a hall past the lounge, and it’s nothing particularly special, but I deeply admire the feel of it anyway. It’ll take some getting used to, since a lot of the controls seem to be in places different than those of _The Casstian,_ but sitting in the pilot’s chair seems comfortable and right, so I don’t even mind. I let my fingertips gently glide over all the buttons, already itching to take it up into the air.

_Where have you been, you beauty? Who have you served in the past? What’s your story?_

Remembering that I still have to go and report to Boba, I throw the hood back over my head and rush outside. Ceero and he are in what seems like an aggressive argument.

“It’s in perfect condition, and it’s already filled up with fuel. 200,000 credits,” Ceero states firmly.

_200,000 credits?! There’s no way Boba just has 180,000 laying around that he could spend._

Boba crosses his arms. “These types of freighters have been around for years, Ceero. This one could be a lot older than you say. You’ve known me for a long time, and besides, you still owe me a favor. Are you already forgetting the time when I chased that male Skakoan out of your store all those years ago?”

Ceero grunts. “No, I have not forgotten, and I am not conning you about the age of the ship. However, I am willing to drop the price to 160,000.”

“150,000.”

Another dissatisfied huff. _130,000 is a lot better than 180,000, but that’s still a huge amount of money to be giving away, especially when he’s not even buying anything for himself._

“So be it. 150,000.”

“Great. Thank you, Ceero.” Boba turns to me. “Are you positive that this light freighter is the correct choice?”

“Yes,” I murmur, hoping the Toydarian isn't able to pick up my voice very well.

“Great.” Boba fishes two handfuls of credits out of his pockets, and I can’t help but stare at the sheer amount of money he’s passing on to Ceero right now, money he could have spent on himself.

Ceero counts the credits carefully while Boba whispers to me, “You get on there after he’s done and fly back to the palace. I’ll take the _Slave 1_ and meet you there.”

“Sounds good.”

“Alright,” Ceero grumbles, waving a hand towards the freighter. “She’s all yours.”

“Thank you, Ceero. You have done me a great service today.” Boba pushes me forwards. “Go. Take it to the palace.”

I hear the two exchange goodbyes before I get onto the ship, breathing out a huge sigh of relief. We’re good. I’m good. All there is now is to leave Tatooine with Din, and everything will be fine.

I lower my hood as I start scanning the walls for a lever to raise the ramp, and I don’t even notice when Ceero flies onto the ramp, making his way inside and towards me. I only detect his presence when the slight buzzing of his wings fills the space and I catch his floating form in my peripheral vision.

_Shit._

“Hey, girl, I forgot to warn you to pull out of here slowly. She hasn’t been flown in a long time and may need a little bit to get back to normal.”

I haven’t moved from my position, and so Ceero is currently getting a very good look at my side profile. Frozen to the spot, I smile and nod my head. “Yeah, thanks.”

_Shit, shit, shit. What do I do? Do I let him go? Do I do something? Does he even recognize me? I don’t think he recognizes me...but can I really take that chance?_

“Boba’s sure got himself a pretty one, hehe.” My eyebrows fly up to my forehead. “Never knew he needed a servant girl, but I bet he ain’t complaining.”

Who does this fucker think he is? Every time I come to this planet, I think there’s no way I’m going to encounter filth worse than before, and every time I’m wrong.

“I really should go.”

“Of course…” he mutters, but doesn’t move from his position. I can’t pull the lever to close the ramp, and I certainly don’t have anything more to say to this Toydarian, so I wait. I wait and see what he’s going to after he finishes inspecting me.

It’s so obvious, I don’t know how I didn't see it earlier.

“You’re that girl, aren’t you?”

My heart drops even though I anticipate it mere milliseconds before he says it. I start moving my right hand - the hand he can’t see - slowly to the knife in my belt.

“I don’t know what you’re -”

“No, no you are. The girl everyone’s talking about in the city.” Ceero’s voice begins to fill with fear and panic, and his body is steadily moving back down the ramp. “You killed Dumien Vex!”

I sigh, shaking my head slightly. I really, really didn’t need any of this shit today.

The Toydarian is far too slow to comprehend my movements before I’m almost done making them. My fingers wrap around the hilt of the blade and I pull it out, swinging my hand to the left swiftly. I let go of it and within two seconds, the dangerous end of the knife is buried in Ceero’s chest. 

His body drops to the ground and I know his lungs are screaming, trying their best to get as much air as they can and keep Ceero alive. It’s hopeless, though. I can tell from the amount of blood that’s permeating his clothes. His gasps and coughs get more scarce as the seconds drag on, as I stand and wait for the last bit of life to disappear forever.

It does soon enough. _One less threat to Din and me._

Before I shove his body off the ramp and leave him in the sand, I retrieve all 150,000 credits from his pockets.

I close the main entrance and rush to the cockpit, eager to get out of here. It takes a moment for me to scan the control panel and locate everything that I need, but as soon as I do, it’s like second nature to me. I’m going to have to get used to the new sound of the engines, and the feel of the much larger vessel, but the delight that’s spreading through me right now tops any concerns I may have.

I lift the freighter off the ground gingerly, giving it a bit of time to warm up and remember what it feels like to fly. I run a diagnostic to ensure that everything is in working order, and then start to accelerate.

The freighter is faster than I thought, and I’m not even pushing that hard. I pitch up and down, tilt left and right, trying to get a feel for this new ship that I’m going to be stuck with for who knows how long. The dunes and rocky mounds zoom past below me, just blurs of orange and yellow and gray.

_The credits._

My mind drifts off as I fly back to Jabba’s Palace, abruptly bringing attention to the 130,000 extra credits I have in my pockets right now.

_Din and I can use these credits. I don’t have to tell them what happened to Ceero. I’ll just keep them and they’ll come into great use in the future._

“Don’t be fucking stupid,” I say out loud to myself. This is one of the things I genuinely miss about traveling alone. I can say whatever I want as loud as I want when I’m on my ship and there will be no one there to question it. Now I have a walking piece of metal with me. I smile.

_Maybe I’ll ask Boba for a few credits instead of stealing them. Maybe that will work a little bit better._

_And...then what? Where are Din and I going to go? What’s there for us to do? Play Dejarik in space and argue for a few years? Tour other planets? Find somewhere new to hide and wait everything out? What?_

_It’d be nice to know more about Din and what he’s looking to do. I barely know anything about him and I’m about to continue to spend every waking moment with him. He could be planning on leaving me and I wouldn’t know._ Is _he planning on leaving me? After everything, would he?_

_I mean, he can do whatever the fuck he wants, obviously. But…_

_But?_

_Nothing. It would just be nice to be aware of his future plans and if they include me, that’s all._

Soon, I’m approaching Jabba’s Palace. It looks even more depressing than the last time I looked at it, but maybe that’s because the sun is starting to set and it’s getting considerably darker. It’s quite gorgeous, though. The binary sunset never fails to impress me with its display of pink and orange and blue. I could stare at it every day and never get tired of the terrific sight.

Boba’s _Slave 1_ is parked exactly where we found it earlier, but I make my way to the other side and land my new freighter right next to _The Casstian_ , up on the ridge overlooking the old structure. The legs touch the ground gently and the entire ship settles smoothly. 

_My first landing. Glad I could make it a good one._

I power everything off and make my way back through the hallway and across the lounge room, suddenly wondering how I’m going to tell Boba about what I did to Ceero.

_He’ll understand, right?_

Din is there waiting for me when the ramp starts to lower, and Boba is just exiting _The Casstian_ behind him.

I find myself smiling automatically at the sight of Din, instantly filled with relief and certain security. He’s admiring the ship, head tilted all the way up as he walks around it slowly. I hope he’s happy with this. Again, I don’t know what he’s planning to do, so maybe he won’t be staying around long enough to even care about the freighter, but if he is, it would be nice for him to like what we’re going to be living in.

“Wow” is all he says once he walks a full circle around it.

“Wait until you see the inside. We could house multiple families in there, no problem.”

Din stares up at the ship for a little longer, and then lowers his head to look directly at me. It’s one of those looks he gives me all the time where I can’t for the fucking life of me understand what he’s doing. It’s like that pretty much most of the time, but it’s this particular way he gazes at me that makes me feel all kinds of things and want to run away.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” he tells me in a low voice.

I shrug. “Of course I’m okay. Why wouldn’t I be? Now go check out the inside. You’ll love it.”

Once Din is gone, I turn to Boba, who is standing with his arms crossed by _The Casstian._

“Listen, Boba. There was a complication in Mos Eisley.”

“What kind of complication?”

I slowly pull all the credits out of my pockets, keeping my eyes on him as if I’d be able to tell what he’s thinking right now. But no, he’s frozen and gaping at all the money I have, which I really fucking shouldn’t.

“What did you do?” He asks this in a way that’s suggesting that he’s angry, or worried, but I keep a straight face as I continue.

“Ceero found out who I was. After you left. He caught a glimpse of me. I had to kill him.”

Boba sighs, his shoulders rising and dropping. “And you just left his body there?”

“I, well...yes. He didn’t really strike me as someone incredibly significant.”

“Well, he wasn’t, but for Maker’s sake, you were alone for not even a few minutes, and you managed to get someone killed.”

“Listen, he knew who I was. I couldn’t have let him live! You know the shit Din and I are in.”

“Yes, yes, I understand. It just would have been a lot better not to leave any kind of trace.”

“Well, what’s done is done. We’ll have to deal with it.”

“Everything alright?” Din asks, coming up from behind me.

“Your girlfriend killed the person that sold us the freighter.” My jaw drops and I shoot a glare at Boba, not sure if I actually sensed amusement in that statement or if I misheard.

“What? Why?” 

“First of all, I’m not his girlfriend.” I switch my gaze to Din. “Second of all, it’s not important, okay? I did us a favour. Look, now we have all our credits again.”

I pick out 130,000 worth of credits out of my pile and hand them all to Boba. “Thanks for the generosity, but you can have them back. I considered stealing them, you know. You’re lucky I’m such a good person.”

“Mhm.”

“Okay, you can tell me later,” Din states. “Let’s just get all of our things on the new ship and get the hell out of here.”

“Actually, I was wondering if you two could help me out with something.” Din and I both turn our heads and look at Boba, who’s tapping his fingers against his arms. “Get your freighter ready first. We’ll discuss the details after.”

\- - -

“I can’t say I’m as confident in your abilities now, with what Andi did.” I grit my teeth and try to take a stride in Boba’s direction - just to give him a little taste of what I’m really capable of - but Din’s arm across my torso stops me in my tracks. He shakes his head at me slightly. “However, I do need something taken care of. Andi, you told me today that you and Mando can repay the favor he owes me together sometime. Well, this is the time.”

“Look, Boba, we’d love to help you, but we are probably being tracked right this second. We have to get out of here before anyone shows up and finds us.” 

“I’ll handle your old ship, take it somewhere remote. It’ll throw anyone who’s searching for you off for a little while.”

I glance at Din, who is sitting right next to me. He leans back against the wall and crosses his arms. “What do you need?”

“There’s a group of Fortuna loyalists, or Jabba loyalists, I don’t care, really. They’re not a big threat currently but I don’t need them to become one later.”

“And you want us to take care of them?” I ask.

“Exactly. I don't have time to deal with them.”

Din and I exchange a look. It may be hard to read him most of the time, but it’s clear to me right now that he has some doubts about this.

“I would have made this into a sort of repayment for the new freighter, but because Andi brought all the credits back, I can’t really do that anymore, can I?” I narrow my eyes at him. “I helped you, Mando. I’m not asking for a lot here.”

Din sighs. “Okay. We’ll do it.”

I swivel my head. “We can’t risk getting caught out here, we have to go.”

“If we do get caught, that’s on Boba. It’ll be his problem to fix ours.”

“Fair enough. There aren’t a lot of them. Something like 20 or 30. Mando’s already told me a bit about you. You two will eliminate them like it’s nothing.”

_What exactly has Din told him?_

“Okay. I’m with Mando. We’ll do it.”

“Great. You leave at sunrise. I’ll transfer you the coordinates before you go.”

\- - -

I twist onto my other side for what feels like the hundredth time tonight, not able to find a comfortable enough position on the hard, rocky floor. Or, maybe it’s my racing thoughts refusing to calm down that are keeping me awake.

My eyes open and lock onto Din, who’s sleeping a meter or so away from me. He’s lying flat on his back, his armor resting next to him. This feels a little like we’re back on Naboo, if it weren’t for the silence of the Tatooine night and the tiny fragments of rocks digging into my sides.

Once again, I find myself yearning for that time. It wasn’t even that long ago, either. Everything happened so fast and now it feels like a year has passed since we were peacefully living on Naboo. The idleness was starting to kill me pretty quick, but...at least I wasn’t alone. It was bearable, to some extent. Now, it’s all happening again. We’ll probably be living in this cycle for a long time, just running and hiding and running and hiding until we’re old.

“Can’t sleep?” Din suddenly mutters.

“No. Too many thoughts. And rocks.”

He chuckles softly. _Nine._

“Me too.”

“What are you thinking about?”

“I’d...rather not talk about it. What about you?”

I scoff. “If you think I’m going to tell you, then fuck off. You never tell me anything. I want to hear something about _you_ for once.” I know I sound harsh, but I’ve got to let him know at least once. I can tell the abruptness of my words has taken him aback.

“I told you, it’s-”

“A fresh wound, I know.”

Din stays silent after that, and I scrunch my face together, regretting saying anything as I’ve obviously hurt him. “I’m sorry, Din.”

“It’s fine.”

I know by his tone that it’s not. I bring my hands up and rub my eyes for a good ten seconds, then slide them down my face. 

A huge sigh, and then, “I’m thinking about what we’re going to do after this.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know, once we finish Boba’s job and get out of here...then what?”

“Then we survive.”

I turn to lay on my back and stare at the ceiling. The room is slightly illuminated from the lantern that’s hanging outside in the hall, so I’m able to make out small dents and divots and patterns in the stone.

“Can I ask you something, Din?”

“Sure.”

I take a deep breath, bracing myself for all the possible answers he’s about to give me. “Are you planning on going?”

“What?” The response is almost immediate, as if it’s the last thing he was expecting to come out of my mouth.

“You heard me.”

“Andi, why...why would I leave you?”

“I mean...why wouldn’t you?” 

The heavy silence that stretches on becomes too much after about three seconds. I don’t know why my eyes start filling up with tears, but I wipe them aggressively right as they do, and again and again as they keep coming. Din must notice this, but he doesn’t say a word about it.

_Fucking hell, get a hold of yourself._

“We’re in this together now, and we’re safer with each other.”

“Yeah.” I reposition myself on the floor, facing away from him so he can’t see the now unstoppable tears streaming down my cheeks, and for what reason? I don’t _fucking_ know. “I guess.”

I can hear some shuffling behind me, and Din’s hand is promptly resting on my arm. “Don’t make me tell you I actually like you.”

The laugh bursts out immediately, I can’t help it. My body shakes with joy as I cry, which is a strange combination of emotions I never want to feel again.

“Why are you worried about me abandoning you?”

“No, it’s -” sniff “- it’s not that I’m _worried._ It’s just...I don’t know where we’re going next and you probably have things that you want to do and so...I’m just curious if you’ll be leaving after this.”

“Not unless you want me to go.”

“Okay.”

“So...do you?”

I shove his hand off my shoulder, smiling widely. “Shut the fuck up and go to sleep.”

_Ten. That’s ten laughs._

“Close your eyes for a second,” he whispers.

I inhale sharply, my mind transporting me back to earlier today. I do as he says, waiting for the click, which comes mere milliseconds later.

The anticipation is killing me, and my heart is practically pounding out of my chest. When I feel his lips on my skin, though, it’s not on my mouth. It’s on my cheek. He presses a gentle, soft kiss to the top of my right cheek, and then he’s gone right after.

I can hear him put his helmet back on and settle down.

Neither of us says a word for the rest of the night. I listen to his light breathing behind me, finally drifting off to sleep to the sound of it.

\- - -

As soon as Din and I finish getting ready in the morning, barely after the two suns have started to rise, we go to meet Boba outside of our new light freighter. I hug my arms, the air feeling chilly even with my jacket on. You’d think a planet like Tatooine can’t get cold, but once night falls and the suns stop beating down, the temperature isn’t so warm anymore.

I yawn as I check to make sure my blaster is in working order, as well as that my knife is with me. It’s still stained from yesterday, but I simply wipe the blade a few times on my pant leg and sheathe it.

“My back is killing me,” I whine, raising my hands into the air to stretch. “We are never staying over at Boba’s ever again.”

Din is playing around with his vambraces, checking to make sure that all his cool little weapons are in working order. “Your bed on _The Casstian_ isn’t much better.”

“At least it’s soft. You can’t say shit about my ship.” I tilt my neck to both sides, cracking it.

“Have you thought of a name for our new one yet?”

“No. You got any ideas?”

“ _The Casstian 2_.”

“Yeah, absolutely not.”

We wait for another five or so minutes, and I’m about to suggest to Din to just leave and come back to repay Boba another time, when I hear the sound of an approaching ship.

I start to panic, scanning the sky rapidly, my eyes dancing as they search for the source. I want to yell out to Din that we’ve been found and to get ready to fight, when I realize that the sound is too small and pitchy to be a ship. Even as it gets closer, it sounds less and less like one. 

Thankfully, I turn out to be correct. I peek out over the ridge and spot Boba’s nearing figure flying towards us from the palace, apparently using a jetpack. He’s carrying something big in his hands, but I can’t quite make out what it is.

It’s not until he’s landed on his feet right in front of us that I see.

“Is that…” Din mutters, reaching out.

“It’s your jetpack. The one you left on Tython. It’s my fault you left it behind, and now I’m giving it back to you.”

Din gingerly takes it from Boba, holding it out at arm’s length and inspecting it all over. I must admit, I’m pretty jealous. Din’s got a lot of cool shit to go along with his impenetrable armor, and this without a doubt only adds to the collection.

“Thank you, Boba. I didn’t think I’d ever get this back.”

I recall Din telling me, way back when we first met, that he had lost his jet pack, and I called him lame for that. This has to be the one he was talking about. It makes me a little mad that he’s not nearly as lame anymore.

“You better get going. I’ll transmit the coordinates to you, and while you’re gone I’ll take care of your old ship. You should be fine time-wise, just try to be quick about it.”

While Boba gives Din some general information about where we’re going, I step up to _The Casstian_ and lay a hand on the metal exterior. The paint is a little chipped, but she’s still as beautiful as ever. I press my forehead against the cold material.

“Thank you,” I whisper. “Thank you for everything.”

I don’t know when or if I’ll be seeing her again. For all I know, this is the last time. It only feels right to take a moment to appreciate everything this ship has become, from my home to even my friend, in a strange way.

I resist the urge to cry. I’ve already done that once in the last 12 hours, and I’m certainly not going to let Boba see me break down. I’d rather jump into a Sarlacc pit before I do that. I’ve been crying way too much recently, it has to stop.

“Andi, come on!” Din calls.

I step back and gaze at my ship one last time, biting the inside of my cheek, before turning around and jogging over to Din.

“Thanks for handling _The Casstian._ And if we don’t see you again, thank you for helping us. We’ll get your job done.”

Boba nods. “I trust that you will.” He stretches out his hand and we both shake it. “It’s been a pleasure.”

Din’s already got his jetpack on, which makes him look way cooler than I’d like to admit.

“Wait, we’re flying there with that?” I ask, suddenly nervous.

“It’ll be faster. And, we won’t be spotted nearly as easily.

“But -”

He wraps one arm around my waist and pulls me against his body without letting me finish. I try to ignore our proximity as I wrap my arms around his neck, cursing under my breath.

“Are you ready?” he asks, voice right in my ear.

“Sure, but if you get us killed, I’m going to fucking murder your ass.”

“Got it.”

He gives a single wave of goodbye to Boba and we lift off the ground.

I cry out in surprise. I know I said I was ready but I thought he was going to give me some warning or something. 

My muscles strain as I hang on as tightly as possible, even wrapping my legs around his middle. No matter how much I tell myself not to, I still find myself tentatively looking down, and the sight nearly makes me pass out. Flying in a ship so far off the ground is one thing. But this, this is just something from a completely different world. 

The wind whips around us, sending my hair into an endless frenzy. I can’t hear anything but the sound of Din’s jetpack, which I’m surprised can keep such a heavy weight in the air. Din alone should weigh too much for the device to carry him. But, I guess this is some kind of specially - designed Mandalorian jetpack, so it makes sense.

Din’s hold on me never once loosens even a little bit. I keep expecting him to pretend to drop me as a joke, but he probably knows that I’ll literally gut him if he tries it, so it never comes.

I eventually start to find myself liking it. It gives me a thrill I haven’t really felt before, and I know Din isn’t going to let me go and fall to my death. I try to enjoy the view from up here as much as possible, too, even though there’s really nothing to see but sand all the way to the horizon.

I twist my neck against Din’s shoulders to look back, and see that Jabba’s Palace isn’t even visible anymore. We’ve traveled quite far in a relatively short amount of time, which sends a wave of relief over me, if anything. The less time we spend on this, the faster we can get away from this planet.

“How much fuel does this thing have?” I scream, my voice getting lost in the wind and the rumbling of the jet pack. I think he responds with something, but I can’t hear shit so I just keep holding on.

Soon enough, we fly over a large plateau overlooking a vast, empty plain. Din repositions us so that we’re floating vertically and no longer moving forwards. Slowly but surely, he lowers us onto the ground.

The moment my feet hit the surface I feel like my legs are going to give out. It’s a weird feeling, but it passes in a few moments. Din releases me, and I step back from him to fix my disheveled hair.

“How was that for our first flight?”

“Pretty fun. We’re still alive, so…give me a warning next time, though. I’m going to hurt you if you take off like that again.”

“We’ll see what mood I’m in.”

I give him the finger and start the trek up to the edge of the plateau. The suns have risen further since we left Jabba’s Palace, now casting a brilliant glow on everything. 

“So, what’s the plan?” I ask as we reach the end. It’s quite a height from here to the bottom. When I look out to the flat expanse of sand and dunes, I have to squint to make out the features of a large rock formation, natural mountains and hills clumped up together for a few kilometers. They stretch out in a sort of curve all the way to the plateau that we're standing on. There are quite a few of these on Tatooine, random areas where it’s not just sand. They’re dangerous, though. I’ve never encountered them before, but the Tusken raiders that can be found in these areas are said to be a people not to be messed with.

“Well, way over there where those rocks are, that’s where the base is. If we can take out the guards outside, we should be good to sneak inside no problem.”

“Don’t they have cameras installed?”

Din shakes his head as he lowers himself onto his stomach. “No, they just recently had to make a quick switch in home bases after Boba and Fennec infiltrated a large establishment full of about a hundred loyalists. They have nothing like that set up yet.”

I sigh as I crouch down next to him. “Why couldn’t Boba do this himself again?”

“I don’t know what he does, ask _him_ why. Besides, I owe him a favour.”

“He must have done something pretty damn important for you if we’re here wasting our time and risking our lives for him.”

“Yeah. He did.”

Din doesn’t elaborate, so I leave it at that. _One day, I’ll know everything._

“How are we taking out the guards?” I ask. “I can barely see anything.”

“With this.” He reaches behind him and pulls a sniper rifle off his back. It’s not big, but I recognize the design. It’s got a powerful scope, and a great ass range.

“Whoa, what the fuck? Where did you get that from? I didn’t even notice it.”

“Boba gave it to me before we left.” He adjusts his arms’ positions on the hard surface and looks into the scope. “There’s only one guarding the front entrance.”

“Let me take the shot.” I grab the rifle out of his hands and get comfortable.

“Okay, but make sure you get him with the first bolt. We don’t need him alerting all his friends to our presence.”

“Don’t worry, I got this.”

I raise the blaster to my eye and gaze through the scope. The quality is insane. I can see the details of the Rodian’s clothes from all the way over here, as well as determine the type of rifle he’s holding. “Boba’s got some great fucking tools, I’ll give him that.”

“Take the shot.”

“I am, I am.”

I take a deep breath and hold it, forcing myself to go as still as possible. The target in the middle of the scope floats around a little bit until it’s positioned right in the center of the Rodian’s head.

“Make sure you get the head, not the chest. You have to kill him instan -”

“Will you _shut_ the _fuck up?’"_ I snap, groaning as I readjust and re-aim, letting the target rest where it should for two seconds before pulling the trigger.

It’s completely silent, and the green bolt that shoots out of the barrel of the rifle burns through the Rodian’s head within milliseconds. I watch his body crumple to the ground before lowering the blaster.

“Got him.”

“You sure?”

“Yes, Din.”

“Okay, let’s wait for a few minutes and make sure no one comes out, and then we’ll advance.”

I move some hair out of my face and keep my scope trained on the entrance door. I’m itching to get a move on, though, so after about a minute I get up and state, “Okay, good enough. We’re going.”

“Andi -”

“We don’t have time for this, come on.”

He sighs and takes the rifle from me, slinging it back over his shoulder. “Alright, let’s go.”

We fly down to the bottom of the plateau and stay close to the bases of the rocks as we move forwards, making our steps as silent as possible and keeping our eyes on our destination.

Once we start nearing it, we crouch down behind a boulder and inspect the doorway. It’s still silent, and nothing around us moves except for the grains of sand getting picked up by the wind.

“Regular procedure for this?” I ask, unholstering my blaster.

“That’s going in guns blazing, right?”

“What else?”

“Okay. We stick together and we have each other’s backs. This shouldn’t take longer than 20 minutes.”

We step out from behind the rock and run across the sand to the base. I kneel down next to the motionless Rodian once we reach him, making sure he’s actually dead - I would never admit that to Din - and searching him for anything valuable. He has nothing, so I get back up and take the opposite side of the door from Din.

“It doesn’t have a lock,” he says quietly. “It’s automatic.”

“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s do this.”

Din goes first and I’m right on his heels. The door slides open and we enter a cool, dark stone hallway. The walls are made of uneven jagged rocks, and they create a narrow walkway with a pretty low ceiling. It triggers my claustrophobia a little, but I ignore it and continue.

We encounter our first few Rodians further down the path. Three are huddled in a side room together, studying several different assault rifles. Din shoots two and I get the third one, who doesn’t even get the chance to react.

Another runs out from a branching hallway, covered in armor. My shots hit the metal on his body, but Din swiftly pulls out his Beskar spear and sends it flying through the Rodian’s stomach. He takes a few staggering steps back before collapsing onto the cold ground.

Somebody from that direction screams, and I know they’ve all been alerted.

Din and I move quicker now, darting in and out of rooms and taking down anybody that we run into. I think for a short moment about what we’re doing here. These Rodians are supposed to be Jabba or Bib Fortuna loyalists, according to Boba, and yet...they just seem like people. Just a group of regular people living on Tatooine and trying to survive. And here we are, intruding on their home and killing them for...what? What exactly have they done wrong?

You can say what you want about being a bounty hunter and draw whatever similarities you can find, but at least the quarries were always people that did something wrong and deserved to be captured or killed in some cases. For all I know, the worst thing these Rodians did was deliver some food to Jabba from Mos Eisley.

Right now, we may not be any better than those Niktos back on Naboo.

_You’re thinking too much, Andromeda. Just finish this job and you can forget about this forever._

But my thoughts only get more heated once we enter what seems like a common room of sorts and I spot a child standing on the other end, all by herself.

“Wait, Din, don’t shoot!” I cry, grabbing his arm and pushing it away.

“I wasn’t going to! Fuck, Andi, you think I’m going to shoot a kid?”

I grit my teeth and kick a rock across the floor. “What are we supposed to do now? I didn’t sign up for murdering children.”

“Neither did I, but we can’t just leave her.”

“Well, what are we going to do? Take her with us? Because that’s not happening. We should let her go, she’s harmless.”

“Maybe we can -”

Din’s words cut off as a Rodian pounces on him from behind and tackles Din to the ground. He collapses with a loud clang as his armor hits the solid ground. I grab the Rodian’s arm and pull him off Din’s body roughly, allowing him to get up and start fighting the Rodian himself. The Rodian is quick and smart, dodging Din’s first few punches expertly.

“Go, I’ll take care of him! Get the rest of them!”

“I can help you fight!”

“No! We have to get out of here soon! I can do this!” he cries as he jumps back to avoid a kick.

“Fuck,” I whisper as I cross the room and move away from them. I think the little girl is gone, until I see the ends of her legs disappear into a hole in the wall. I kneel down and see that it’s a tunnel, leading to who knows where. 

_If they have a system that lets them move from room to room like this, then I have to make this quick._

I have my DL - 44 and knife at the ready, moving further down the corridor.

A Rodian rushes at me with nothing but his fists. I duck as he throws a punch and come up behind him, kicking his back. He tumbles onto the ground and I send a bolt through his head.

Another starts shooting in my direction with a pistol. I run towards the wall, push off, and use my momentum to kick the blaster out of his hand. When I land, I spin around left to face him and thrust my elbow out - hard - smashing it into his jaw. He hits his head on the rocks and falls limp. I finish him off, just in case.

I mow through them all like it’s nothing. I know Boba said they aren’t a big threat currently, but I honestly don’t think they could have ever become dangerous enough for someone like Boba to not be able to handle them. I almost feel guilty as I look at all the bodies on the floor around me.

It takes me about four minutes to scan the remainder of the rooms. I catch a few unlucky souls trying to escape through the tunnels, but other than that, the job seems to be done. Boba was right, this didn't take long at all.

I maneuver back to the common room, where Din has just finished delivering a fatal blow to the Rodian he was wrestling. He’s standing overtop of him, panting heavily.

“Hey, you alright?”

He nods, still trying to catch his breath. “Fuck...that was one of the best fighters...I've ever come across.”

“I can tell.”

“Did you get everyone?”

“I think, I don’t know. Boba said there’s about 20 - 30, right? I think we’re pretty much done. We can do one more sweep of this place and get out of here.”

“Sounds good. I just have to - ANDI!” Din yells suddenly, his voice louder and more full of panic than I’ve ever heard it. I don’t even have time to do or say anything before he pushes me back roughly and leaps to the side himself as a grenade drops onto the floor of the common room. We scramble into the hallway just as it explodes, the force shoving us forwards slightly.

“The little girl," Din says, a hint of disbelief in his voice. "She -”

A deep rumble fills our ears, startling me. The ground beneath me begins to tremble simultaneously, and my stomach flips.

_Fuck._

“Din -”

“I know! Go, run!”

We break into a sprint, the shaking of everything around us causing us to trip and fall multiple times. Dust and bits of rocks are falling from the ceiling, the threat of us getting trapped in here growing by the second.

 _Come on, come on, come on. I am_ not _dying here._

The fact that we constantly have to step over the bodies we left behind and the bigger rocks that are starting to fall is slowing us down considerably. What’s worse, though, is what I hear Din scream at me when we make it about halfway to the exit.

“Andi, I have to go back!”

Against my will, I stop and spin around, shooting him the most perplexed and angry look of all time. “What the _fuck_ are you talking about?”

“I - I lost something. I can’t leave without it!”

“Din, we’re about to get fucking buried! Whatever it is can’t be worth your life!”

“I’m sorry, I can’t.”

_Is he being fucking serious right now? Maker, please tell me this is a sick fucking joke he’s playing on me. A sick, unfunny, terrible joke._

I wave my hand in front of my face as dust flies in front of me, obstructing my view. “Din, get your ass moving _right now._ I’m not letting you go back and get yourself killed for nothing. We’re _leaving._ ”

“Okay, okay, _fine!”_ he says, urging me to move.

_By the stars, am I going to have a nice, long, probably very aggressive conversation with him about what he just tried to pull. He could not have been serious. What could be so significant that he’d be willing to turn to complete stupidity to get it back?_

I continue to relentlessly stumble through the tunnel, hearing the ever-increasing rumble of the mountain collapsing all around me. And there, finally, the light of the exit, the light of the open world of Tatooine. There it is, it’s so close.

A few dozen meters…

Just a little more…

Come on…

I breathe a huge sigh of relief as I burst out of the cave, my eyes overflowing with light but exhilaration spreading all throughout me. I cough from the sand and dust that’s entered my lungs and laugh at the same time, adrenaline rushing through me.

“We did it,” I cry, smiling. We…”

I turn in a circle, multiple times in both directions. My smile disappears and my happiness is entirely replaced with fear and dread.

“No,” I whisper. “Oh, _fuck_ no!”

My legs move to rush back towards the cave, but just as I'm about to pass through the entrance, the rocks collapse and block me from entering. I reel back from all the dust that surrounds me, squeezing my eyes shut.

Once the view clears, I get a good look at what’s in front of me, and I don’t let myself believe it. A pile of rocks is resting before me, blocking the entrance. There’s no hole, no little space left over where I could squeeze through. Hell, the entire hallway beyond the door has probably collapsed.

_No._

_NO._

“DIN!” I scream, throwing myself at the pile and clawing at all the rocks I can get my hands on, searching for any that will give out and let me make a path. “DIN!”

My vision blurs, my muscles begin to ache, and my fingers are covered in blood, all in the span of a minute or two. A huge sob racks my body as I continue to pull helplessly at the debris, calling out to somebody who isn’t answering, who can’t even hear me.

“DIN, _PLEASE!”_

The howl feels like it rips my throat apart, but I keep screaming. I continue to shriek and beg until I physically can’t anymore. I persist with my hopeless attempts at moving the rocks until my flesh stings horribly and blood trickles onto the sand. The tears that flow endlessly down my cheeks make clear streaks on my dirty skin and drip off my chin.

Everything is blocked out, I can't feel or hear or think about anything except for the fact that Din isn't here with me. My raspy, weak pleas keep coming, I don't even have to think. My hands are in pain, but I don't care. There's only one important thing in the entire universe right now, and he's not safe.

After a long time, I finally give up and stop moving and instead just sit on my knees in the sand. My body is shaking, my lungs are struggling to attain any breath, the whimpers and sobs escaping me are echoing across the vast void of nothing. 

I whisper his name, so quietly that no one would be able to hear me if they were right next to me. I shake my head, my mind refusing to accept the clear reality of the situation.

A frustrated groan escapes my throat, coming out much quieter than I’d anticipated. 

_What did you DO? WHY? Why are you doing this, Maker?_

"Come back," I whisper, reaching out once again to the rocks, but not doing much more than lightly touching them with the tips of my fingers. "Please, come back."

\- - -

I eventually lie down in the sand, my body still shaking slightly, my mind a place of absolute chaos and disorder.

_What the fuck do I do now? Din is dead._

_No, he’s not dead. He can’t be dead. He’s not fucking dead and that’s the end of it._

_What do I do? Do I get Boba? He lives so far away...and what if he’s not there when I get there? What am I supposed to do then?_

_Do I wait here?_

_Yes._

_But wait here for what? No one’s coming._

_No, I fucking told you, he is not dead. He’s not dead. He’s not dead. I’m going to wait for him right here._

_That’s stupid._

_No, it’s not. Din is not dead, and I’m going to wait for him._

_I’ll wait._

_I’ll wait._

_I’ll wait as long as I have to._

A new wave of tears emerges. I haven’t cried this much in years. 

I hate myself for it.

\- - -

Night falls.

I don’t move from my spot.

My fingers still sting, but not as bad as before. My head is pounding relentlessly, and my eyes are incredibly itchy.

I force myself to stay awake, keeping my eyes open as much as possible even when it starts to feel like tons and tons of metal are pulling them down.

_I can’t drift off. What if he comes back? What if I get attacked by something or someone?_

I curl my body up into a ball. 

I continue waiting, head pressed against the sand, eyes boring into the pile of rocks in front of me. I wait and wait and wait, and it feels like eons pass, but I remain where I am. 

\- - -

I drift off.

When I wake up, it’s still nighttime, and it honestly feels like I’m dying. Nothing seems to be hurt badly, and yet with every moment that passes by I feel like I’m closer and closer to a death that’s coming very soon.

My throat hurts with every breath that I take and my mouth is dry. I feel as if I can't move a limb, I'm so exhausted.

_You have to get up, Andromeda._

_I can't._

_I have to keep waiting._

\- - -

I fall asleep again.

However, this time when I wake up, I open my eyes to the most beautiful sight in the entire universe. I think.

\- - -

“Andi?”

His voice sounds so far away, but it’s there. It’s there and I think it’s real.

I try to open my eyes, but my eyelids are so heavy, and when I finally manage to do so, the whole world spins and blurs.

But...there...in the whirlpool of colors, I think I see him.

It’s not fucking possible, but there he is, right?

“Din?” I whisper, quiet as ever. He couldn’t have heard that, so I repeat it. And I’m pretty sure, I’m pretty fucking sure, I feel a squeeze of my shoulder and a response that sounds like, “Yes.”

And then I pass out.

\- - -

When I open my eyes again, I’m staring at a metal ceiling that I’m unfamiliar with. I gape at it for a few minutes before finally deciding to turn my head to the right and look around.

I’m in a small room, lying on a bed that’s pressed against the wall opposite of the door. I recognize this, but I’ve never really been in here before. Not like this.

I take a deep breath and slowly raise my hands from under the covers of my blanket, taking a good look at them. They’re healing, and no longer dirty. Someone cleaned them up for me.

A canteen is sitting on the small bedside table next to me, and I chug all the water I find inside of it in a few seconds. I don’t realize how thirsty I am until I’m feeling the satisfaction of the liquid flow down my throat.

I’m about to try and get up out of the bed and see where the hell I am when the door to the room suddenly opens, and a figure appears in the doorway. I’m both absolutely overjoyed and enraged to see him.

“Hey,” Din’s filtered voice says. His Beskar is off, and he’s holding a few packs of rations in his hands. “Andi.”

He sets the rations down and sits on the edge of the bed.

Din takes my hands into his, looking at them closely. “You seem to be doing okay. Getting you back to the freighter was hard, but cleaning you up was the easy part. Thank the Maker Boba had some extra medicine, because otherwise -”

“What the _fuck?”_ I interrupt, my voice laced with irritation.

Din drops my hands and just stares at me for a few seconds. “What?”

“Don’t fucking ‘what?’ me! What were you fucking _thinking?!"_ I yell at him, highlighting the last word with a good shove to his shoulders. “You’re a lucky bastard to be alive, Din Djarin! You are a stupid, reckless _idiot!_ You left me all alone, not knowing whether or not you were alive, _for hours,_ Din! Do you know what -” I choke on my words “- do you know what that did to me?”

“Andi -”

“You _left_ me all alone!”

Din comes back to the edge of my bed and wraps his arms around me, pulling me against him. I don’t work to hide the trembling of my body, or the rapid, short breaths that I’m taking right now.

“I’m so sorry.” He runs a hand up and down my back a few times. “I’m genuinely so sorry.”

I sigh and relax into his hold, despising myself for being so fucking vulnerable but honestly not caring enough, because Din’s here and he’s alive and he’s hugging me, everything is okay. I hate him, but we’re both okay, and we’re on our new ship, I realize, and we’re safe.

We stay like this for a long time, not saying a word. I calm down soon enough, but Din doesn’t let me go, and I don’t make him.

“What happened?” I ask eventually, my voice small.

“Well, once I got out of the cave, I found you. I was worried you hadn’t made it. You were extremely dehydrated, and I -”

“No, no. I don’t care about that. How...how are you alive?”

“You sound like you’re upset about me living.” When I don’t laugh, he continues, “The space deeper inside the mountain didn’t get buried. At least, not initially. I was safe for a little. They must have had some kinds of supports in place or something in the walls. Either way, once I was done in there I had to find a way to get out, and so I used the tunnels that the Rodians used. Boba told me about them before we left. He said to use them in case we got into trouble because they at some point or another lead outside. It took me far too long to navigate my way through them. Some had collapsed, and I was honestly starting to believe that I was trapped under there forever. That is, until I got out way on the other side of the rocky mountain area. I backtracked and found you. Plus a few escaped Rodians on the way.”

“I fucking _hate_ you,” I mutter, and he laughs softly. _Eleven._

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“No, I really, really do. Did you at least find what you lost?”

“Yeah, I did.” Din releases me and reaches into his pocket. He digs around for a second and then pulls out…

A metal ball.

A metal fucking ball, with a black line going all the way around it and a small hole on one side.

I give Din a look of disbelief. “You’re kidding, right?”

“No. I must have lost it in my struggle with that Rodian.”

“You went back for a fucking _ball?!"_ I push him again, more infuriated than ever. “You were going to die for _that_ thing? What the fuck is _wrong_ with you, Din?”

_This has to be a joke._

He gets up and pockets the object, turning his back on me. “It’s important to me.”

“Oh, yeah? Please, enlighten me. Tell me how that little piece of metal is worth risking your life for?”

Din turns his head, and it’s one of those moments when I know he’s looking me straight in the eyes. I await his response, eyebrows furrowed and blood boiling in exasperation. 

“It’s the only thing I have left of my kid.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I just wanted to say that yes, I’m aware that Din had his jet pack in the season finale, he didn’t leave it on Tython. However, that detail somehow escaped me, so we’re just going to go with how it plays out here.
> 
> Thank you, and I really hope you enjoyed!


	10. Chapter 10

**10**

* * *

Nothing could have prepared me for what Din says.

I haven’t spent that much time with him, but even so, I can say without a shred of doubt in my body that I never, not once, saw Din as someone who would be a father. He’s too...closed off, too hard. From what I’ve seen, he doesn’t exactly fit the criteria of a dad. At least, _my_ criteria of a parental figure.

An endless string of questions passes through my mind. What happened to his kid? Who’s the mother? Was he biological or adopted? Is the child still alive? Too many questions, and I can’t decide on which one to ask, so I keep my mouth shut. Besides, I don’t think he _wants_ me to ask questions.

“I...lost him. In a sense. This ball…” Din says in a quiet voice, turning the metal object around and looking down at it. “This is all I have left to remember him, other than my own memories. He loved the stupid thing.”

The way he’s speaking so silently and softly, the way I can hear his voice crack briefly on his last word, it all makes me nearly completely forget my anger from a mere minute or so ago. All I can feel now is the steady tendrils of grief and despair reaching out from Din, lightly touching my body and threatening to consume me, too. 

“Din...” I whisper, not really sure what to say. I don’t know what it’s like to lose a child, _your own_ child. I’ve lost my parents, but maybe it’s not the same. Maybe it’s far, far worse than I can ever imagine.

“I’m sorry I frightened you and left you alone for such a long time. I just...I couldn’t leave without this.”

I’m about to ask him if he maybe wants to talk about what happened when he exits the room, the door sliding shut behind him. I sit still for a while, thinking it’s probably best to give him some space, but not wanting to stay confined to this room when there’s a ship to fly.

Speaking of which, where the hell are we?

I swing my legs off the bed and test them out before standing fully upright, shaking slightly. _I must have been out for a while._

The ship is vibrating underneath my feet. I use the walls for support as I leave the small bedroom, not confident enough that I’ll be able to keep myself up. There’s still a distant pounding in my head, and I’m not well-rested at all, so I think it’s better to be safe than sorry.

I make my way to the circular lounge room and peer out one of the bigger windows. We’re in space, passing near a colorful gas cloud. It’s a lot more silent on this ship, I realize. _The Casstian’s_ engines were far louder than those of this one.

_Din had a fucking child._

I can’t control the abruptness of the thought coming to the front of my mind. It’s almost like I can’t even fully accept it. Din being a father is a concept so absurd to me, and yet...whatever happened must have impacted him so greatly that it resulted in him being the way that he was when I first met him...and what could have caused that other than the loss of someone really special?

Is the child still alive? Din said that he lost him, but “in a sense”. What does that mean? Surely, he's not dead. Did the Empire take him away? I still have no clue why Din was involved with the Empire, which should be nonexistent right now. Remnants probably exist, of course, but what would they want with Din’s child? How special _is_ it? Is _Din_ in any danger? It would be a disaster if he was on the run from two different threats.

I breathe out a deep sigh and lean my head against the glass. Sooner or later, we’ll have to talk about it. He can’t hide from me forever. I may have forced him to tell me about his kid, in a way, but now it’s out and I just know can’t wait another month for him to reveal one little detail.

So, I start moving to the cockpit.

Din’s studying the control panel, it seems. His gloves are resting on his lap and his hands are gliding over all the buttons, experimentally pushing them and reading the manual that’s up on the display.

I clear my throat as I come in, and he barely reacts. I sit down in the passenger chair and spin around a few times, wondering how to start. I’m about to walk among millions of shards of glass with a blindfold tied around my head, covering my eyes and preventing me from seeing anything.

“You should be resting,” he says.

“I’m okay.”

“You were passed out on Tatooine for -”

“Din, I said I’m okay.”

Silence. I’m glad he doesn’t argue, even though I’m certain I know how coaxing him to talk to me will go.

“So...do you want to -”

“No.”

I raise my eyebrows, slightly annoyed. He’s not even going to consider it? It’s a fresh wound, I know all that, but if he himself didn’t mention a kid, this wouldn’t be happening. He can’t blame me for wanting to know.

I suppose I can be a bit more understanding and patient, but…

“You don’t even know what I was going to ask!”

Din turns to me. “I’m sure I do.”

“No, I was going to offer if you wanted to have sex,” I joke. His body freezes completely as he processes my statement, not making a single move to look away from me or continue examining the control panel. I smile within a few seconds, not able to keep my straight face up with his reaction. “I’m kidding.”

Din shakes his head slightly after a moment and swivels the chair back to face the front. I wish I knew what’s going through his head right now.

“Look, Din, in all seriousness, I want you to talk to me about what happened.”

 _“I_ don’t.”

“But, why not? What would be the harm? I think it can actually help you with your grief.”

“I’m not...grieving.”

I scoff. “See? You’re even in denial about your feelings. You’re clearly extremely upset if you risked your life to preserve that metal thing. Something really bad must have happened to your kid.”

“Not _bad,_ just...I don’t know. It doesn’t matter.”

“Well, it _does_ matter because you’re clearly unhappy.”

“I’m not _always_ unhappy.”

“Just talk to me, for Maker’s sake. I mean, you with a kid, Din. That's _kriffing_ insane!"

He leans back in his chair and sighs. “Why are you so _stubborn?”_

“I just want to help you.”

“I don’t _want_ your help, Andi. I’m fine on my own.”

“Yeah, you know what? I thought that, too, for a very long time, but then I let everything out about my parents to you and guess what? I felt better. Not perfect, not by a long shot, but better.”

“What happened to giving me time?”

 _“You_ did. You brought up a kid yourself.”

“That’s because -”

 _"And,_ again, talking to me is a lot healthier than keeping it all pent up. One day, you’ll collapse in on yourself.”

“Why do we even need to talk about any of this?” he mutters, staring out the window with his head twisted away from me.

“Because, Din. We’re not planning on separating anytime soon, right? We’re going to be confined to this ship with each other whether we like it or not, and what will make it more tolerable is opening up and getting closer. Maybe then I’d be able to stand you for longer periods of time.”

“We’re close enough, Andi. I don’t want to talk about my past right now.”

I grip the armrests of the chair, my knuckles turning white. It takes a great effort to refrain from pulling his helmet off and giving him a good punch in the face.

A dozen rude and cruel responses fly to the front of my mind, and my mouth starts to move to speak, to hurt him. It startles me how automatic it is, but I manage to stop myself before I say anything that I know I’ll regret and that will cut into Din deep.

_So be it._

I stand up and start to walk away, ignoring the dizziness I feel almost instantly. If he wants to be so damn guarded then I’ll let him. It’s his loss, and honestly, I’m in no condition to get into any more of a fight with him right now.

Din turns in his chair and his arm shoots out to wrap his hand around my wrist, preventing me from exiting the cockpit. He doesn’t say anything for a while, and my feeble attempts to wrench my arm out of his grasp fail.

“I don’t want you to be angry with me.”

Truthfully, I don’t know how to respond. I’m irritated, sure, but the righteous part of my brain is telling me that it’s anything but fair to hold a grudge against Din for this. I _know_ that. It’s just...it’s such an enormous part of his past that it feels like it’s too significant to leave out for much longer. What else do I not know about this man? Is he...what is it called? Force-sensitive? Was he Emperor Palpatine’s right-hand man? And what are his connections to the _Jedi,_ Maker? So much information that I don’t know, and...I’m afraid.

The sudden realization comes with shame and denial, and I don’t let myself agree. I am not scared of this Mandalorian. If he wanted to hurt me in some way, he would’ve done it already. I might not know what he has been doing with his life before he got tangled up in this mess with me, but I sure as hell know that I can’t allow myself to be frightened of him. I can’t make this whole situation worse.

“I’m not angry,” I say in a low voice. “I just want to help you. You can always trust me.”

“I know, and I _do_ trust you.” Din gently pulls me back towards him, and I’m forced to face him. He doesn’t let go of my arm. “I just think that ignoring it will make it easier.”

“I’ve always been of the same opinion, and I know how desperately you want it to be true. But, if I’m honest, it only hurts a lot more in the end.”

He sighs deeply. I look down at his hand that’s holding my wrist, and notice the little red scratches and scabs here and there on his skin. I haven’t even had the chance to consider injuries _he_ may have sustained back on Tatooine. He seems absolutely fine, but clearly, he didn’t come out unscathed.

“For the record, Din, I’m glad you’re alive.”

His body shakes a little as he laughs. _Twelve._ “It really doesn’t seem like it. I think you’d rather throw me off the ship into the void of space rather than deal with me for another moment.”

“Yeah, that may be true, but you have to endure me, as well, so if we throw each other out, what would be the point? Best to just irritate one another and see where it goes.”

Din pulls me even closer, and at this point, my thighs are pressing against his knees and I can’t go any further. I grab the armrests of his chair as my body leans forwards. I’m hovering over him and staring down at his visor.

I swallow, suddenly nervous, and flinch slightly when both of his hands come to rest on my hips. My heart rate and breathing pick up within seconds, but as we stay here for a bit, just looking at each other silently, my raging nerves fade away.

I sit down on Din’s lap, my knees touching the back of the chair as I trap him with my legs folded on either side. His grip on my hips tightens as I adjust myself. I have an idea of what this might turn into, but I’m certainly not letting that happen between the two of us, especially when I’m still as unstable as I am.

“Can you be honest with me about something, Andi?” he asks after a moment of silence.

“Sure.”

“Do you...care for me?”

The question is not what I expect. “Uh, well, yes. We’ve been together for so long, we’ve become friends, haven’t we?”

“But, what about something more?”

I swear I almost stop breathing. Din Djarin, asking me whether or not I like him in a romantic or sexual way. It’s either because he feels the same way, or he wants to know exactly where I stand so he can turn me down if need be.

I don’t know which one is worse.

Do I tell him the truth? Do I tell him that I’m terrified of getting even closer to him when I’m already so far in and scared of losing him? Do I tell him that he’s managed to break down the thick walls I’ve placed around myself and have been living inside for years?

“I’m very wary of those feelings, Din.”

“I understand, so am I. I just...want to know.”

I purse my lips. I’ve already made the decision with myself, but saying out loud to Din will make it true, and there will be no going back from admitting that I have dangerous feelings for this man.

Making it true will make it one hundred percent real, and I don’t think I’m ready for that.

Din can apparently see my struggle, because he says, “It’s okay. You don’t have to say anything right now if you’re not sure.”

“Well...okay, do _you?”_

He shrugs. “I guess you’ll have to wait and find out.”

“Fuck you, Din Djarin,” I whisper, and he laughs. _Thirteen._

“Hey, close your eyes. Promise you won’t -”

“I promise.”

I listen for the click. The chair turns and he sets his helmet on the control panel. Maker, he’s _right there._ I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this.

Din’s lips touch mine first, and I bring my hands to either side of his neck. We go slow, neither of us rushing this moment. We’re at peace this time, and there’s no reason to hurry because we have something important to get to or someone might walk in. It’s just the two of us floating through space.

I take his bottom lip between my teeth and pull gently. His hand snakes to my lower back and he pushes me to sit closer to him. 

I’ll admit, this is really nice.

We go on for...hell, I don’t know how long. It’s so easy to lose track of time when I’m with him like this, I realize. I’ll never tell him this, of course, but it’s interesting to note for myself.

My hands drift from his neck to his face, gently feeling around and earning a chuckle from him. _Fourteen._

“What the hell are you doing?” he asks as he pulls away. I smile and run my fingers down his nose, feeling a slight outwards curve. 

“If you’re not going to talk to me about your kid, at least let me figure out what your features might look like.”

“Okay, that’s enough without the helmet, then,” Din says, and I can feel the chair turn and hear him lift his armor piece of the control table. 

“Wait,” I whisper, leaning down and catching his bottom lip between mine once more. “There.”

“You are such a mystery, Andromeda Arwen,” he says softly after a moment.

I wince at him calling me by my full name, but let him have it. He pats my thigh when it’s safe and I reluctantly open my eyes again. “That’s rich, coming from you.”

“You put on such a tough facade, but whenever you’re alone with me and we do this...you unravel, almost.”

Heat creeps up my neck. This is part of what I was afraid of - going soft and letting my barriers down to let somebody in, to rummage around and discover my secrets. “If you bring that up again, or suggest that I’ve become soft for you, I will throw you out into space and let you die on your own.”

Din raises his hands as if surrendering. “It was just an observation.”

“Keep your observations to yourself,” I mutter as I slide off his lap and sit back down in the passenger chair. I say it in a tone that lets Din know I’m joking, but I can feel the uneasiness inside of me. I swallow nervously.

_Too vulnerable, too open, too naive._

“So, I contacted another friend. His name is Greef Karga, and he’s on Nevarro right now.”

“You sure have a lot of friends,” I point out, trying to get my mind off my twisting stomach.

“Do you want help or not? I asked Greef and he said he could set us up with some work. It’s discreet and small enough that no one will be able to find us out.”

I frown. “Aren’t we avoiding that kind of stuff for a while? I’m not sure jumping straight back into bounty hunting is the best idea. Besides, we just tried to do a job for Boba, and you almost died.”

“I didn’t almost die.”

“You definitely did, Din.”

“Alright, if you want, we’ll wait for a bit longer. But, we’ll need some extra money for fuel and food.”

I certainly can’t argue with that. 20,000 credits won’t keep us going for a very long time. “Okay, we’ll do that then. I can’t be holed up with you on this ship for too long, anyway.”

“How did you ever endure me on _The Casstian,_ then?”

“I didn’t,” I simply state. “I’m going to go take a shower. Bring out the Dejarik board so we can play after, will you? I feel like kicking some ass.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so I know this one was really short compared to some previous ones, but I wanted to get something up because it's been a while. Another is coming on the weekend, though, so don't worry. I've just been super busy with school lately, you know how it is.
> 
> Either way, hope you enjoyed :)


	11. Chapter 11

**11**

* * *

Nevarro is...not a very interesting planet to look at.

As I stare down at the landscape whooshing past below us, I start feeling sorry for whoever gets stuck with living here. There are streaks of orange and red where the ground is cracked open and filled with boiling lava, but that’s pretty much the only colour for klicks and klicks to look at.

Lovely place to be if you want to hide, though, I bet.

“You know,” I say to Din, “Maybe we should settle down together on this planet.”

“What?”

“Yeah, you know. Get a little house in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by nothing as far as the eye can see. It’ll be great. We’ll never be found, and I’m sure we’ll adapt quickly to the rough landscape.”

Din doesn’t say anything for a moment. I don’t know what it is he’s thinking about, but something tells me he’s still on edge from our conversation earlier about his kid. I haven’t brought it up since, even after I noticed the difference in the way he talked to me while we played Dejarik, and in the way he moves around me. I’m starting to pick up on that kind of stuff, starting to read him a lot easier. But...maybe not knowing like before was better. It was a sort of blissful ignorance. Now, I can tell he’s uneasy, and it makes _me_ uneasy in turn.

“I...don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

“I was kidding, for Maker’s sake. Kriff, Din, lighten up.”

I’m not surprised that he didn’t get the joke, just irritated that he’s seemingly holding a grudge against me because I tried to help him. 

“We’re going to be landing at the rendezvous point soon. Go get ready. Unless you’re still tired, in which case I can go by myse -”

“Yeah, that’s not happening. We’re doing this together.”

I go back to my room - we’ve both settled into two rooms, one for each of us with a third left over - and rummage through my clothes. We still haven’t figured out how the cleaner works, so most of my clothing is dirty and I don’t have a lot to choose from.

Dirt, blood, dust, unidentifiable smudges...and fuck, it all smells terrible. I eventually find a pair of dark green cargo pants that aren’t as disgusting, an old shirt, and a black jacket to go along. I haven’t worn these in a while, and I’m finding the most random things as I’m going through all the pockets. I find a crumpled up piece of paper with an address scribbled on it from when I needed to record it but forgot my holopad in my ship. There’s a few Calamari Flan, an empty ration packet, and a ring that I remember taking from one of my particularly richer quarries. 

I smirk as I recall the look on his face when I blew all of his goods up into the sky. That was a good day.

As soon as I finish checking the rest of the pockets, I can feel the freighter touch down onto the ground. _Nice landing,_ I say to myself, not daring to say it out loud in case Din can somehow hear me.

I pull on my pants and boots, my shirt and my jacket, and tighten my belt around my waist. I secure my knife and my newly polished blaster in the holsters. A rush of excitement passes through me as I finish brushing my short hair out and leave the room. Well, it’s either excitement or nerves disguised as that. I really don’t like the idea of risking getting caught, but at the same time, the lure of a good fight - just bounty hunting in general - is a little too much to resist.

Din’s adjusting his bandolier when I come into the lounge. I catch him tucking that metal ball into his belt, and I want to comment on how he probably shouldn’t take it with him because he’ll lose it again, but decide it’s probably best to stay silent. If he tries to kill himself again, I won’t stop him.

“Greef’s meeting us out here. It’s a lot safer than us going to him.”

“Can we trust this guy?”

“Why are you asking? You didn’t have a problem with meeting Cara and Boba.”

“Yeah, but...now we have a new ship, one that no one has seen before, one that isn’t attached to us in any way. I don’t want our safety to be compromised so soon.”

“Don’t worry. He’s safe. I’ve gone through a lot with these people. I wouldn’t be getting their help if I didn’t know for a fact that they wouldn’t betray us.”

“Okay. If you trust him, then so do I.” That’s not true, but I don’t tell him that.

“Maybe we should start enlisting the help of some of _your_ friends for a change.”

“What makes you think I have friends?”

“You told me yourself.”

Oh. _Oh. Right. Great._ “Yeah. Maybe I can get one of them.”

If, and probably when, the time comes, I’ll find a way to tell him that I really don’t have anyone but myself. For now, let him believe that I’m not as miserable as I actually am. 

We lower the ramp and cool air hits my face, sending my hair flying back. The wind isn’t too bad, but it’s colder than I thought it’d be. What I like, though, is the lack of civilization. The air is a little smoky, but it’s clear of any artificial gases. Everything is completely natural and untouched.

I look over at Din and examine the way he’s standing. He’s tense, his body stiff as his helmet turns slightly to gaze at the horizon. My eyebrows knit together and I chew on the inside of my cheek. I wonder what’s got him so nervous.

“You okay?” I’m almost afraid to ask, based on the way he reacted last time I tried to help him. This time, however, he actually gives me a decent answer.

“Yeah, I just...don’t have the best experiences with this planet.”

“Mm.”

We wait for a while longer, until finally, the distant, familiar sound of a speeder starts approaching. I jump to my feet from where I was crouching in the gravel and stand up straight. My hand hovers beside my blaster, wanting to be ready to pull it out. Just in case.

The man that gets off the speeder is wearing flowing robes and has a wide smile plastered on his face. He looks like a powerful man...not necessarily in terms of physical strength, but as if he holds authority and status.

He laughs as he exchanges a handshake with Din, pulling him into a hug. I can tell they’re close, or at least good friends. My weariness fades away slightly as I watch the interaction; the way this man seems genuinely happy to see Din eases the tension.

“Greef Karga,” Din says, turning to me. “This is Andromeda Arwen. My...friend.”

Greef nods at me and reaches out his hand, which I take. “Call me Andi.”

“Sure, Andi. He givin’ you any trouble?” he whispers with a wink.

I shrug with a sly smile. “Not anything I can’t handle.”

“Ah, well, careful. Din here has a tendency to get himself into danger without even trying.”

My mouth spreads into a grin at that, but my mind is going over the fact that Greef said his name. This must be the second friend who knows his name, besides Cara. I wonder if they’d ever met, if the three ever worked together or something.

“I see you have a new ship. Where’s the Razor Crest?”

“It was destroyed.” The answer is short but Din’s voice carries with it a certain sorrow that I know he’s trying hard to conceal. Greef gives him a tight-lipped smile, not questioning any further. “Let’s not talk about that, though. I’d rather you tell us what jobs you have to offer us.”

“Right, yes.”

I watch as Greef pulls three identical devices out of his pocket. Tracking fobs, by the looks of them. I’ve used them before, but I’ve mostly always gotten general locations and descriptions of my quarries. It certainly made the job a lot harder, but I enjoyed the challenge.

“I chose simple ones, just as you asked. They won’t get you in any trouble you don’t need.”

“Where are the targets located?”

“I’ve marked each of them with a different color. The one with the yellow streak is Ceddlin, the green is Verus, and the red is Sorgan.”

“Sorgan,” Din pipes up as soon as the word leaves Greef’s mouth. It doesn’t seem like it meant anything, more like he was just saying it to himself. Add that to the list of things I’ll ask Din about once he’s no longer a bomb threatening to explode any time I get too close.

“These aren’t worth a lot of credits, I hope you know.”

“We do. We’re just...trying to not sit around uselessly.”

“I understand. If there’s anything else that I can do to help, please let me know.”

“Just don’t sell us out,” I say with a little laugh, even though I’m dead serious.

“You don’t have to fear anything like that. I’ll always be someone you can trust.”

I look over at Din, who’s still staring at the Sorgan tracking fob, apparently lost in thought. I reach over and nudge him gently, to which he lifts his head and clears his throat right after.

“Well, we’ll be going, then.”

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Greef says, handing the fobs to Din and searching through his pockets until he finds what he’s looking for. “You’ll be needing these to know what your targets look like.”

I take the circular devices from Greef and give him a nod in thanks. “We’ll contact you once we have them. Shouldn’t take too long.”

“I’m sure it won’t. Good luck, and be cautious.”

Din shakes Greef’s hand once more and then follows me back onto the freighter.

**Quarry 1: Verus**

We decide to do Verus first.

Neither of us knows too much about the planet, either than the fact that the civilian population level is extremely low, and it’s not good for much. Hiding there is a pretty good idea, from what I hear. I’ve never seen it, but I know a lot of bounty hunters get sent there to search for people that are convinced they’ll be able to escape with the help of the land.

Din and I exchange a few words as we travel, but I mostly leave him alone with his thoughts, which I hope he appreciates. I could be pestering him with countless questions right now, which I still have a strong urge to do.

The tracking fob activates as soon as we enter the atmosphere of Verus, with the red light blinking. The planet doesn’t look too appealing from the outside - with its shades of dark, muddy greens and browns - but it’s when we get past the multiple layers of clouds that I see just how ugly it is.

A green mist is resting above the ground, floating between the tall, dead trees and caressing the edges of a few murky lakes we spot as we fly by. It doesn’t seem like much of anything could be thriving here, but I’m sure there are a lot of creatures I’d rather not mess with hiding down there, concealed by the cloak of the fog.

“This is nice,” I murmur. “I’m excited to see what it smells like.”

“I’ve been on a planet that looks a little like this, but this one’s worse.”

“Honestly, I can see why someone would come here to hide. I already know it’ll be unpleasant trekking through all that down there.”

“Can’t handle a little mud?” Din asks, a hint of amusement in his voice.

“I’m going to push you into the dirty lake.”

“You can try.”

I roll my eyes, but can’t help but smile.

We fly for a little longer in the direction the fob is leading us, until Din finds a clear area of land and lowers the freighter onto the grass. 

I take a deep breath before the ramp lowers, bracing myself for the lovely environment. The pungent smell that washes over us isn’t as bad as I thought, but it’s not great either. It’s a mix of forest, mold, and soil, which I think could be a lot worse.

The ground sinks under my boot as I step onto the grass and half of my leg disappears. I yelp in shock as I fall, my arms shooting out to catch me only to sink in slightly, too. My nose crinkles from being so close to the ground and I groan in frustration as I hear Din chuckling from behind me. _Fucking fifteen._

“Having trouble, Andi?”

I grit my teeth. “Shut your mouth and help me get out of here.”

He takes his sweet time coming down the ramp, and I have to refrain from shouting at him. I try not to move as much as possible, even though I’m terribly uncomfortable with almost all of my limbs descending into the soil.

Din’s arms hook under mine and he pulls up, easing me out of the ground. I huff as I flick mud off my hands and stomp my foot down, bits flying everywhere. “Fucking perfect. Now I smell and look like shit.”

“That’s not so different from the usual.”

I glare at him and wipe my hands on his shiny Beskar, enjoying the way he backs away quickly. “I just cleaned that, Andi!”

“Deal with it.”

I do my best to get as much mud off me, and then Din and I use his jetpack to fly over this area and to the other side, where the treeline starts. Thankfully, the ground here is a lot more solid, but I’m still wary with every step that I take.

Verus is an eerie planet. There’s not a lot of wildlife to be seen, but the few plants on the ground sometimes rustle, a creature makes a sound in the distance, the insects chirp and buzz. It’s an environment probably _teeming_ with life, but we can’t see any of it.

It gets brighter as we go, which means we probably arrived sometime in the morning. I’m eternally grateful for that; we don’t need to be traversing this landscape in the dark and encountering things we’re not ready for.

The fob begins to beep almost an hour after we started our walk. We both slow our pace and crouch down, trying our best to make as little sound as possible. 

Eventually, a small collection of huts come into a view in the middle of a clearing. They seem intact but like they’re rotting, too. That’s as good as you can get on this planet, I guess.

Din and I stop behind a boulder, peeking up over it to gaze at the houses. I tap Din on the shoulder and whisper, “What does our target look like?”

He retrieves one of the disk-like devices Greef gave us and brings up the hologram. The face of a Mon Calamari stares back at me, which surprises me a little bit.

“Huh. Never been after one of those before.”

“Neither have I.”

“Do you want to wait for him to come out or go in and do this the fast way?”

“Let’s just get this over with.”  
  
“Alright, sounds good. You take right, I take left. Knock the target out.” I start to get up to go but Din grabs my arm and pulls me back.

“Hold on, we have to set something straight.”

I raise my eyebrows. “What?”

“We kill anyone that we find that’s not the quarry, understood? We can’t have anyone surviving and living to tell others about us.”

I really don’t think there’s anyone on this planet the survivors would go to, but I agree with him. “Okay. I was going to kill them either way, though.”

Din sighs and shakes his head before releasing my arm. We step around the sides of the boulder and hunker down as we approach the huts, blasters at the ready. I try not to think about the ground under my feet.

I round the first hut and kick the door open, lifting my blaster up as my eyes skip around the small space. It’s empty, with the exception of a few old tools. The next one is the same, and so is the next one. I’m starting to believe that this whole place is empty when I hear a startled cry from Din.

I whirl around and my eyes land on Din’s figure - and he has someone on his back. My legs start running across the open space towards him, watching him struggle to get the Mon Calamari off of him. 

I’m lifting my blaster to try and aim, but then in a mere few seconds, Din activates his jetpack and starts to run up the wall of the hut nearest to him until he’s parallel to the ground. He pushes off and curves his body so he performs a sort of back flip in the air. Din turns the jetpack off mid-flip, then back on as he straightens out, which sends his lower half flying forwards. Din grabs hold of the Mon Calamari behind him, leans forwards, and uses the momentum from his legs swinging back to throw him over his head and down to the ground with a loud _THUMP._

I must admit, that was pretty impressive.

The Mon Calamari is slowly trying to get up as Din lands gracefully on his feet next to him. “He’s not the one we’re looking for.”

“No, he’s not.” I point my blaster and send a bolt through his head, ceasing his movements forever.

We continue to search through the houses, taking out three more of the same species as we go. There’s only a couple left, and Din and I silently creep towards them, splitting up once more.

It’s so easy, I almost want to laugh.

The Mon Calamari bursts out of the hut I’m about to enter and kicks me in the stomach, which sends me stumbling back, but I recover quickly. He rushes at me and I duck under his punch, sticking out my leg in front of him to trip him. He falls in a heap of dust and I step on his back, pushing down with as much force as I can. He doesn’t get a long time to fight, as I lean down and smash the butt of my blaster into his head.

He stops moving just as Din joins me.

“Too easy,” I muse, rolling the Mon Calamari onto his back. “Greef didn’t lie, these were simple. _Really_ simple.”

“Don’t get too cocky, Andi.”

We do a quick sweep of the huts, just to make sure that there’s no one left, before Din throws the Mon Calamari over his shoulder and we begin the walk back to our ship.

**Quarry 2: Ceddlin**

As much as I’m grateful that Ceddlin isn’t just another swamp, it’s a little unsettling that the tracker fob leads us to a relatively busy city. It’s nothing _nearly_ as packed and large as Hosnian Prime, but more than enough to set me on edge.

I’m flying the freighter this time, so I can’t look around as well as Din can, but it doesn’t take a whole lot of looking to see all the people walking around down there, all the shops and restaurants illuminating the streets amidst the darkness of the night.

“I can’t just find a public hangar bay, Din.”

“I know. Take us to the outskirts, we’ll get to the location a different way.”

I land the ship on a grassy hill overlooking the city. It’s quite a beautiful sight, actually. The lights of the town are like a beacon in the middle of a dark void. The air smells a lot sweeter and overall more pleasant than on Verus, and the gentle, warm breeze helps to ease my nerves slightly.

Din flies us back to the city, and with the help of the fob, I guide us to what looks like a bar of sorts. We land on the roof and get down immediately. People can’t really spot us that easily from down below, but I want to be as safe as possible in a place as populated as this.

“What’s the plan?” I ask as Din puts away the hologram of the Duros we’re after.

“He’s in this establishment right now. We wait for him to come out.”

Maker, I _hate_ waiting. “Okay, then.”

While we lay on the ground and patiently wait for our friend to come out, we exchange little stories about our worst bounty hunting experiences. I reluctantly tell him about the time when I was slightly drunk and decided to go after my quarry anyway, resulting in me breaking my arm and losing him twice. Din gets a good laugh out of that, bringing him to a total of sixteen.

I quite enjoy his story of having to use his entire supply of explosives to take out a Sarlacc before it pulled him fully inside the pit and ate him.

My mouth stretches into a grin as I laugh. “I kind of wish that Sarlacc finished you off.”

“Your life would be so boring if it did.”

“You give yourself too much credit.”

I rest my chin on my hands as I observe the people walking along the street below us. A little boy is giggling as he skips down the paved road, his parents following close behind him. A Loth cat stares lazily at everyone as they pass by, falling asleep on a windowsill. A lady presses a kiss to another’s lips, both of them smiling widely at each other before entering a cafe. A trio of Togrutas is performing a beautiful dance down the street, a small crowd forming around them as they move to the lively music.

It’s all so...normal. Everyone here has their own life and their own concerns and responsibilities, but there seems to be so much collective peace and joy among them. Their lives are something so unattainable for me at this point, which tugs at my heart a little.

“Hey, Din?” I mutter, keeping my voice low.

“Mm?”

“Have you ever felt like you wanted to drop everything, forget about bounty hunting and killing and traveling, and just...settle down?”

I can see in my peripheral vision him glancing at me, before looking forwards again. “Yeah. Once.”

I turn to him, not actually having expected the answer he gave me. I mean, I guess it makes sense. If he was a father - is he still a father right now? - then it would be in his best interest to put his career on hold. “Why didn’t you?”

“I couldn’t. It was too dangerous.”

Obviously, I have no clue what he means by that. “Too dangerous to have a peaceful life?”

“Too dangerous to stay in one place for long.”

Maybe one day, he’ll tell me about it, along with all the other heaps of information missing from my knowledge of him. I have a feeling that we’ll need hours to go through it all, but I’ll listen patiently for as long as it takes for him to relay his entire life story before he met me.

My eyes start to close about an hour and a half later. People have wandered in and out of the bar, but the Duros we’re after hasn’t turned up yet. I know Din is on high alert and won’t let him slip past, so I let myself relax a little and doze off.

I don’t get to rest for long, though, because Din is shaking me seemingly seconds after I’ve fallen asleep. My eyes fly open and I force myself back into the present, back to the task at hand. I peek slightly over the edge and see the top of the head of the Duros that we need. He’s speaking to a Rodian that’s just heading inside.

“Let me take him,” I whisper, pulling my legs up so I can crouch on the ledge.

“No!” Din hisses, grabbing my arm and pulling me so I fall back. “I’m going to pull him up from here and we’re getting off this planet. You’re not going anywhere.”

I sigh, even though I know it’s a better idea than me jumping down there.

We wait for the Duros to finish his conversation with the Rodian. Once he starts walking away from the bar, Din points his right hand and a cable shoots out from a compartment. It wraps around the Duros, startling him, and Din starts to pull the rope back. I’m wondering if it’ll be able to sustain the weight of our quarry when suddenly he pulls out a knife and cuts the rope, freeing himself.

 _“Shit,”_ Din curses as the Duros growls, looking up at the roof. He shouts something to people inside the bar, and within seconds, he’s got a whole team of humans, Trandoshans, Dugs, Xamsters, and more surrounding him. 

“You are going to pay for that,” our Duros calls, and they all begin to circle the building to find a way up to the roof. 

“What the _fuck_ do we do now?” I ask as I pull out my knife and blaster, turning in a slow circle and eyeing the edges of the roof.

“We fight, there’s nothing else to do. Kill everyone, except -”

“Except the Duros. I know.”

 _For Maker’s sake, it just_ had _to all get screwed up like this, didn’t it?_

I turn once more before the first few figures get on top. I realize just how difficult this is going to be; the darkness up here is too great to distinguish any features. We can’t shoot blindly in case we accidentally kill our target. 

Din must be thinking the same thing, because he points his arm upwards and lets some flame out, illuminating our surroundings. Three people are up here with us, and none of them is the one we require. The light from Din goes out, but I’m already rushing at the first one.

I drive my fist into the Xamster’s face, grab his head, and push it down as my knee comes up. I can hear a little crack and a cry of pain, but I put him out of his misery with a bolt to his head. 

Someone seizes me from behind, and I throw my head back into their face. Their grip loosens and I twist around. The light against his back makes them into a silhouette, but I can tell it’s not the Duros that we’re after. I jump away from a kick but pull my arm back and swing it forwards, letting my knife fly into the chest. They collapse onto their knees, and I quickly throw myself on top, straddling them. It’s a Dug. I wrench the knife - the blade oozing red - out of his body and proceed to slice his throat. The Dug’s screams are silenced as he grasps hopelessly at his throat, blood soaking his hands in seconds.

I get up and look back. Din’s Beskar is glinting in the light from the city, and he’s currently wrestling someone on the edge of the roof. I start to move my legs to go help but something strikes me in the head and I falter, my vision swimming for a moment.

The light shines just right on my attacker, and I see that it’s a female Er’Kit holding a long, wooden club in her hands. I clench my jaw tightly and face her, ignoring the relentless pounding in my head.

Beside me, I can hear Din’s jetpack activate. I look - just for a second - to see him lift somebody up into the air and drop them back down roughly. I smirk and bring my attention back to the Er’Kit.

I point my blaster at her but I’m too slow to dodge a swing of her bat and my blaster flies out of my hand. She swings at me again and I duck, reaching up to try and grab the weapon. I wrap my fingers around it but she backhands me across the face hard and kicks my chest, causing me to take a few steps back. I lick my lips and taste blood. My eyes narrow.

I rush at the Er’Kit and jump with a spin, my foot connecting with the side of her head. I land a lot better than I thought I would and use my little window of opportunity to jump onto the Er’Kit’s back. My arms wrap around her throat and I squeeze as hard as I can as she stumbles around, snarling and clawing at me.

She takes too long to pass out, though, and I know I have a very limited amount of time to get her before one of her buddies helps her or she figures out a way to get me off. So, I reposition my arms slightly, brace myself, and tug with all my might. 

The sound of her neck snapping is loud, and to this day, it still makes me a little sick. I drop on my feet as her body crumples, breathing heavily.

I drag the back of my hand across my mouth, blood smearing on my skin. Din is fighting someone and I start to turn in a circle to make sure there’s no one else and - 

A strangely strong force hits me and I smack straight into the ground. My body rolls across the roof and I can’t stop myself. I can’t even fully process what’s going on. I try to grab onto something but before I know it, my stomach is dropping and I’m not touching a single surface for a few seconds...until I hit the pavement below me.

Thankfully, my legs are the first thing to touch the ground, but my entire body screams nevertheless. A throbbing pain is erupting in my right elbow, my hip, my left knee, and...and oh, _Maker,_ my _head._ I groan as I force myself to sit up, knowing I can’t afford to wait and rest. I open my eyes and only have a moment to look at my bloody hands before a Weequay is on me, his hands around my throat.

I desperately search around for my blaster and knife, but they’re nowhere to be found. My hands come to the Weequay’s, pulling at them to try and loosen the grip that’s slowly killing me despite the pain I feel in my palms. It’s not working, though. I know it’s not.

I don’t know where Din is, and I can’t assume that he’ll be able to help me. He may not even know that I’m no longer on the roof. I’m all on my own.

With all the strength that I still have in me, with all the adrenaline that’s still rushing through my body, I thrash underneath the Weequay, trying to get my right leg free. I manage to deliver a good jab with my knee to his back, which causes him to jerk and move off me a little. Knowing this may be my only chance, I sit up and scooch back, bringing my right foot in and then kicking it out to connect with his groin. 

His hands let go of me and I push him back. I’m panting as I struggle to get on my feet, as I stare down at the Weequay. I spot a dagger hanging from his belt, and I reach down to take it out. He tries to stop me, but is still experiencing too much pain to move more than a tiny bit at a time. I ignore his attempts to block me and drive the blade straight into his heart. Twice.

Once I’m sure he’s dead, I take the dagger and stumble around the bar, trying to locate a way to get back up there. A hammer is beating at my head from the inside, and my neck burns from the pressure the Weequay exerted. I try not to shake too badly as I scale my way up using a garbage can and a few slots in the wall. 

I push myself up onto the ledge with a great effort, only to see that it’s not over yet. The Duros is lying - hopefully unconscious - on the ground, but Din’s trying to hold off another Trandoshan that’s taller and broader than him. They still haven’t seen me, though, so I get up on my feet, tighten my grip on the knife, and I stick it into the side of the Trandoshan’s neck.

He falls and a pool of his own glinting blood forms around him.

Din and I stand still for a while, both of us breathing heavily and waiting to see if there’s anyone else left that wants to fight us. The roof is littered with dead bodies. One closer to the edge is in the light, and I can see that its face is burned.

We don’t say a word. I’m trying to keep myself on my feet, and Din is scouring the street below us, which is completely empty now. I kneel down and search around for my blaster, ending up finding it on the complete opposite side of the roof.

“I’m going to go put this guy on the ship, and then I’ll come back for you, okay?”

I simply nod, closing my eyes.

_That was fun. A close call, to be sure._

_But...a little fun, too._

\- - -

“Fuck, Andi, your head.”

I squint as the bright lights of the ship fill my eyes. They do not ease my headache in the slightest. I reach up and tentatively touch the side of my forehead with my fingers, hissing as the stinging intensifies. My fingertips come away red.

“It’s alright. I’ll live.”

“You need to go get cleaned up right now. Do you want me to help you?”

I shake my head before he even finishes, which I realize is a big mistake as soon as the persistent pounding worsens. “I’m fine, just...just go set a course for Sorgan.”

With one hand on the wall to guide me, I make my way to the bathroom. I make sure the lights are on the lowest setting and then look at myself in the small mirror.

_Fuck._

My lip is split, a smidge of dried blood sitting on the skin around it. My cheeks have a few scrapes on both sides, but nothing too bad. What _is_ bad, though, is the stream of blood that’s painting the right side of my face, originating from a gash near my hairline. It’s not too deep, but it sure hurts like hell. I examine it closer for another few seconds before sighing and undressing.

I can see a bruise already forming around my left knee, as well as a few other places that took the worst of my fall, such as my hip bone. I already know they’re going to stick around for a while. 

The water is cold, but I get used to it once it takes off some of the pain. I carefully scrub the blood off my face and hands, thinking about whether or not I have any sedatives in my medicine supply to keep our quarries passed out until we can go back to Nevarro. Whatever Din tied them up with better be tight if we don’t have any; I really don’t need the extra hassle of trying to subdue them again, and in such a small space.

Worse, I don’t need them getting a good look around the ship and then running their mouths later about what we’re traveling in.

I step out of the shower, dry myself off, and quickly scurry to my room to change into a fresher pair of clothes. Before I go see Din, I check inside of my med kit and find sleeping pills, which should work for a long time. They sure worked for me when I couldn’t sleep properly from all the nightmares I used to get every time I slept.

We’re in hyperspace when I get to the cockpit. The blue light brings a certain peace to me like it always does, and I try to relax a little after all that has happened.

“You look better,” he says as he gets up and examines me. My eyes focus on the smudged blood that’s streaked across his helmet, which was so shiny and clean not so long ago. “Although, you should probably apply some pressure on your wound here for a bit. It’s starting to bleed again.”

“I will, but I’m fine now. I’m just going to go give these pills to our friends so that they don’t wake up and cause us trouble.”

“Good idea.”

“Go get cleaned up. I’ll meet you back here.”

He nods and starts to leave the room, but then wordlessly wraps his arms around my body, squeezing gently so as not to upset any other wounds I may have. I return the gesture, a small smile coming onto my lips.

Once Din has gone, I go down the ladder into the storage, where some of the items that were on _The Casstian_ are being held, like all my souvenirs. The Mon Calamari and the Duros are sitting against the wall in the back. They’re still, but as I near them, I can see the Duros stir a little.

“Oh, no you don’t.”

I give both of them a good bash to their heads and hold their mouths open so I can drop three pills down their throats. _That should keep them asleep for a long time._

I ensure that the hatch is locked, and then settle down in the pilot’s seat in the cockpit. A wave of exhaustion washes over me, and my eyes close automatically. I don’t mean to fall asleep, but I can’t help it. I’m so tired, still not even fully recovered from what happened on Tatooine. 

My body relaxes and my breaths finally even. I doze off to the sound of running water echoing across the ship.

**Quarry 3: Sorgan**

I open my eyes to the sight of my room.

I try not to move too much as I become more and more aware again of the discomfort and pain from recent events, but eventually sit up, wincing from all the stabs here and there.

My head doesn’t feel like it’s splitting as much anymore. I touch my wound with my fingers and feel a patch of fabric there. _Din must have applied that after I fell asleep._

I rub my eyes and yawn as I exit the room, the ship silent. When I get to the cockpit, we’re stationary and floating above a huge rich - green planet. I can see white clouds swirling above the land, as well as blue veins of rivers snaking around everywhere I look.

_This must be Sorgan._

Din must be sleeping in his room, so I let him have another 20 minutes while I get dressed and take a look at the cleaner. It would be really nice to have all of our clothes fresh for when we get back. Without the presence of a holopad, though, it becomes incredibly annoying very fast having to run back and forth between the cockpit and bathroom to read the manual.

My constant footsteps must be too loud, though, because Din walks out of his room, dressed fully in his Beskar, after my fifth trip to the cockpit.

“Hey,” I mutter, reaching into the cleaner - which is built into the wall - and searching around for the divot in the side panel that’ll allow me to pull it off and find the switch that will activate the machine. “Sorry if I woke you up.”

“It’s okay. We need to get going, anyway.”

There’s something wrong with his voice. I stop what I’m doing and tilt my head up to look at him from where I’m crouching on the floor. “Are you alright?”

“Fine. Come on, let’s go.”

Din disappears down the hall, and I close the door to the cleaner, making a note to come back to it as soon as we finish up on this planet.

My mind goes back to Nevarro, when Greef gave us the tracking fobs and Din froze up at the mention of Sorgan. _This is probably just another planet associated with a part of his past, one that he will not tell me about no matter how much I beg him to._

More and more questions, and not a single answer.

\- - -

Sorgan is immediately my favorite.

The lush forest, the clear blue lakes. It’s all bringing me back to Jenosia and Naboo and the tranquility of being on a planet like this. I smile as I watch a flock of birds rise from the branches of a tree, and see the vast fields littered with flowers in the distance.

Din, on the other hand, is awfully tense. I don’t ask, but something about being here is really putting him on edge, or even distracting him. Maybe I could offer to do this one by myself, but I already know he’ll refuse without even thinking about it.

He taps the display a few times, bringing up a map of the planet. A dot in the center stays still the entire time - that’s us - while everything around it moves. I can see him glancing at it numerous times as we fly over the landscape, but I try to focus on the intense beauty of Sorgan.

We eventually land in a small clearing in the middle of the woods. I eagerly run to the back of the ship and begin lowering the ramp before we’ve fully touched down.

The smells of the forest are delightful, and I smile widely as I step out onto the ground, listening to the sounds of leaves rustling against each other and birds tweeting and insects chirping, sounds that don’t give off nearly the same feel like the ones on Verus.

Din locks up the ship and we embark on our walk. I stare up at the canopy, the sun concealed by all the leaves but still providing enough light for the space to feel almost...magical.

I walk behind Din for a while, letting him take the lead as I bask in the loveliness of this place. I almost forget that my body is still aching, that I have concerns about Din. Places like these take me away to a whole separate universe, and I never want it to stop, honestly. If there was anywhere I would _actually_ settle down, it would be somewhere like here.

Soon enough, a house makes itself visible amid all the towering trees. It’s not too big but not too small, and the simple wooden design gives it a cozy feel that I bet is similar to what it was like back on Naboo.

Din stops and crouches down behind a bush, and I follow suit. He turns it off and stuffs it into his pockets, and then pulls out a hologram of a male blue Twi’lek. “Our guy’s in there.”

I nod. “Let’s...let’s do this the stealthy way this time. What do you say?”

“I see you’re learning.”

“Shut your mouth and move.”

Din scoffs and continues forwards, me on his heels. He lifts four fingers into the air once he gets closer, signaling to me that there are four life forms inside. That’s not bad at all. Surely, it won’t be any worse than what happened on Ceddlin.

We quietly make our way up the stairs and onto the porch, every squeak of the wood irritating the hell out of me. He goes over to a window and carefully peeks inside. I do the same on the other side of the door.

The main area is pretty empty. Other than a few pieces of furniture, there’s not much decoration. A lot of random stuff is strewn around, such as clothes and cups. Whoever lives here clearly doesn’t take care of the place well. A staircase on the left side leads up to the second floor, where a balcony overlooks the first floor, before the rest of the story disappears into a hallway. 

I’m about to say something to Din when a human man comes out from that hallway and begins to descend the steps. We both duck down and listen for the footsteps, which are approaching the front door quickly.

I look at Din, and he nods. 

As soon as the man opens the door, I smash the butt of my blaster into his temple. I catch him before his body can hit the ground, and then lay him on the wooden surface.

“Do we have to kill him?” I whisper, aware that the front door is wide open. “He didn’t even see us.”

Din thinks about this for a moment and then says, “We’ll let him be, but if he starts to wake up, we get rid of him.

“Okay.”

Keeping our steps light, we ease into the house. I make my way to the stairs while Din creeps towards the room at the back of this first floor. I cringe at the sound the wood makes when I step on it, but keep going until I reach the top.

I stand up on two feet and press myself against the wall right before it breaks for the hallway. My blaster at the ready, I step out from hiding and maneuver to the first of the four doors.

It’s an empty bedroom, and it doesn’t look like anyone’s slept in it for a while. A layer of dust covers all the surfaces, I notice.

The next one, however, is not the same. 

The second I open the door, I lock eyes with a Twi’lek, this one green. He’s fiddling around with a holopad when I come in, now frozen to the spot. His eyes widen and he suddenly scrambles to pick up the small knife that’s resting on the table next to him, but I pull the trigger before he makes it halfway.

I miss. Well, I don’t _completely_ miss, I almost never do, but I pierce his side instead of his heart, and he screams out loudly enough to alert the whole house to our presence.

I curse and send a second bolt right into the middle of his head.

The sound of something clanking and heavy footsteps reach my ears, and I know Din might be in trouble downstairs.

I rush out of the room, but I don’t even get a few steps in before something hits me in the back of my head and I fall to my knees. Instantly, I turn around and point my blaster, only to find the face of the Twi’lek we need staring back at me.

_Shit. I can’t just shoot this guy._

I holster my blaster and instead take out my new knife, the one I got from the Weequay back on Ceddlin. I jump to my feet and back away as the Twi’lek approaches me with rage in his eyes. The railing of the balcony is getting closer.

The Twi’lek bares his teeth and rushes at me. I block one punch, two, before I miss one that goes straight into my ribs. I hook my right leg around his and pull with it while pushing his body forwards, causing him to fall square on his back.

I take a moment to look down to the first floor, where Din is fighting another Twi’lek. His blaster is lying on the floor across the room. That’s all I get to observe before I have to look back at our quarry, who is getting up. I step back and go down the stairs, my eyes on him the entire time.

I see his gaze flick to the battle between Din and one of his friends, then to me, and instead of following me further down the steps, he jumps over the railing. The blue Twi’lek lands on his feet below me and advances towards the other two, engaging Din as well.

Cursing, I practically fly down the rest of the stairs and bolt towards the three, slamming into our quarry shoulder - first. While he stumbles and tries to regain his balance, I briskly hand Din my blaster, and then I march towards the blue Twi’lek. I make a fist and send it up into his jaw, which makes him groan and grumble something in a language I don’t understand. One more punch to his stomach, one to the throat, and then I grab his head with both hands and smash it against the wall. The Twi’lek goes still and slumps to the floor.

And it’s all good, but then -

The clatter of something hitting the floor.

A few blaster bolts. 

The thud of something falling.

And - 

“ANDI! Don’t look!”

And…

It’s strange.

Because, obviously, he asked me not to look, right?

But what does my mind tell me to do as soon as he desperately screams out those words, words laced with panic? 

Yeah. It tells me to turn my body, move my legs, let my eyes find him.

It doesn’t even process the fact that his voice sounds different.

Why does his voice sound different?

Why does his - 

A mere second before my eyes rest on Din, he manages to duck his head and cover his face with his hands.

_Cover his face with his hands._

And then I realize what I’m looking at.

My mouth drops open at the sight of his brown hair. It’s not too curly, but it’s not straight. It sits in waves, and it’s a little longer than I thought it would -

Turn the _fuck_ around.

_Shit._

“I’m so sorry!” I cry as I close my eyes and turn my back on him, heart pounding out of my chest. Maker, I almost saw his face. “I’m not - I’m not looking.”

There’s a little bit of rustling behind me, a click, and then a hand on my shoulder roughly forcing me to swivel my body back around. I open my eyes, and there’s no hair anymore.

“What did I fucking ask you to do?”

“I -”

“I told you not to turn around. What part of that did you not get, hm?”

He’s never yelled at me like this before, and I’m taken off guard by the harshness of his voice. “Din, I’m sorry, but it was an accident! I didn’t mean to look, I - I didn’t think!”

Din shakes his head. “No, you didn’t.”

My eyes narrow at him. “I’m _sorry,_ okay?”

“Did you see anything?”

“N - no, just your hair. You hid your face before I could.”

His shoulders rise and fall with a deep sigh, and then he doesn’t say a single word after that. He picks up the blue Twi’lek, retrieves his blaster, and stalks off back into the woods. I follow him silently, cursing at myself for being so stupid.

I don’t blame him for being angry. There’s not a lot of things I know about Din, but I sure know that his creed is insanely important to him, and I was almost the cause of him breaking it.

I stare at the ground as we walk, too overwhelmed with thoughts to appreciate the nature like before. I want to apologize again, but I’m pretty sure it won’t make a damn bit of difference, so I keep to myself the rest of the way.

When we get back, we tie the Twi’lek up and set him in the storage hold beside the other two. I only have one sleeping pill left, so I hope it’s enough until we get back to Nevarro. 

Once that’s done, I go over to pull the lever and close the ramp, ready to leave and hopefully put this behind us, when Din finally speaks.

“Wait. I need to go do something.”

I frown. “What?”

“Just...stay here and wait. Please.”

He leaves without another word, heading in the opposite direction from where we initially went for the quarry. I debate whether or not I want to stay, but then decide I’m much too curious and follow him.

I stay a ways behind him, just to make sure he doesn’t spot me. If he does sense my presence, he doesn’t do anything about it.

Eventually, I start to see the edges of what looks like a village through the trees. The closer we get, the bigger it seems, and I begin to hear distant chatter, and even _laughter,_ coming from that direction.

_What is he doing?_

Din keeps walking forwards, while I climb a small hill that overlooks the village and watch from the very top. I pull out the binoculars I quickly snatched from the ship before leaving and use them to locate Din.

He enters the village on a path between two ponds and gets greeted by a bunch of people, which causes my nerves to spike. They, however, seem to be extremely pleased to see him, as they’re all shaking hands and even exchanging hugs. They don’t look like people who want to kill him.

I watch the interactions occur for a little longer, until Din walks further into the village and comes face to face with a woman. I zoom in closer and take her in. She’s middle - aged, with fair skin and long, dark brown hair. She smiles widely, the skin in the corners of her eyes crinkling, as she encases Din in a hug, which lasts a lot longer than the other ones.

They talk for a while, it seems, and I wish I had a device to help hear what they’re saying. The woman points back at something, and I follow the gesture to a group of children all playing together, closer to the center of the village.

An uncomfortable feeling comes over me, as well as multiple handfuls of questions. _Is this woman the mother of his child? Does Din have another kid here? Why was he so uneasy about coming to this planet when there are so many people who are clearly happy to see him?_

As soon as I see the woman take Din’s hand and pull him towards a house, I put the binoculars down and leave. I don’t know what he’s doing, but I don’t really want to know. I mean, I _do,_ but if it’s what I think it is, then I’d rather not hurt myself.

Hurt. It hurt...seeing that interaction between Din and the woman _hurt._ Not even just that one, although, I do admit it stung. No, his whole reunion with the people of the village. Din really wasn’t kidding when he said he had friends. He’s gone through shit in his life, obviously, but at least he seems to have countless people that can help him, that will be there for him if he needs them. People that aren’t me.

I chew on my lip as I walk back to the ship, hands crossed and thoughts a mess.

What do _I_ have? 


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, just so you know I made up the name of the city in this chapter because it's never mentioned in the show. Also, not much action takes place in this one, but...some other things do...have fun!
> 
> Also!!!! Nearly forgot, but thank you so, so much for 1k hits. I appreciate it so much and can’t believe that I reached it. Thank you to everyone who is reading and who might be new, I love you!

**12**

* * *

**NSFW!**

The moment I step back on our ship, I head to the bathroom and begin working again on the cleaner. I need something to get my mind off of everything. Desperately, actually.

I try to focus on locating the activation switch among all the buttons that I find behind the panel I finally pry off, but my mind isn’t letting anything go. Knowing I’m alone, I let out a loud, frustrated groan and hit my fist against the wall, so hard that a wave of pain swims down my arm and my knuckles turn red. 

Taking a deep breath, I lean my forehead on the metal and close my eyes.

_Curse me for getting caught up with him, for caring for him way more than I should, for almost looking at his face even after he warned me not to. And you know what? Curse Din, too._

_Curse Din for going back and forth with me on Naboo, curse Din for nearly fingering me and making me question everything, curse Din for kissing me, curse Din for leaving me and making me believe he died, and...and, yeah, fucking curse Din for being angry with me right now and going off to see all his precious friends and that_ kriffing _woman, whoever she was._

“That’s not fair,” I immediately say to myself. “You know you can’t blame him for that.”

_Yes, I know. I fucking know._

_I just wish I could understand. Both myself, and him._

I know I have feelings for Din that I shouldn’t and I know they’re not going away unless I leave Din and just go off on my own. He got a grip on me somehow and he’s not fucking letting go. And...I felt a comfort and pleasantness greater than I ever have before when he kissed me, every single time. The problem is, it’s addicting. I can’t risk allowing this attachment to grow and get worse, I simply can’t. It won’t do him nor I any good in the end.

So what’s the solution here? Because, as much as I may or may not want it to be true - I do, that’s the terrifying part - Din clearly has some sort of romantic feelings for me. Maybe it’s because he’s been alone for far too long and just needs someone to fill the hole in his heart. Maybe he doesn’t actually care for me at all in a way that’s deeper than pure physical attraction.

The thought both frightens and intrigues me. I can bring it up to him, I can ask him and we’ll figure something out. Right now, it seems as if we’re walking blindly through fog without any guidance and no clue as to where we’re going, just wandering on a perpetual path to nowhere.

I don’t know how open Din will be to talking about this shit right after I’ve nearly helped him break a creed that’s insanely important to him, but we’ll talk about it at some point. It’s probably best to let him cool down for a little, anyways.

I drag my hands down my face and resume the work on the cleaner. I take two trips to the display in the cockpit and back until I finally activate it. It beeps a few times and I can hear the faint sounds of its inner workings starting to do their job. 

I throw all my dirty clothes into the machine, run back and forth a few more times to figure out the different settings, and get it to work.

While I wait for the ten - minute wash and five - minute dry to conclude, I dig out a ration packet from my bag and eat it slowly in the cockpit. I prop my feet up on the control panel and gaze out the window.

Tiny dust particles float lazily outside, glowing from the blinding light of the sun that has broken through the many leaves and branches high above. A few small bugs zoom past, disappearing into the trees and bushes that surround me on all sides, and continue on for klicks and klicks. 

_It’s gorgeous,_ I think. If it weren’t for all the shit raging through my head right now, I’d be entirely encapsulated by the forest.

\- - -

I must fall asleep at some point, because the next thing I know I’m jerking awake and it’s dark outside. I can still see the outlines of trunks - and some bioluminescent insects flying around - but nighttime has fallen. What’s awakened me, though, is footsteps echoing across the ship, originating from the lounge.

I carefully slip off my chair and crouch next to the wall, peeking into the hallway. My hand drifts towards my blaster, my breath steady and quiet.

As soon as I see Din, though, my body relaxes and I get up. I’m not sure if I should go to greet him, but he’s making his way towards the cockpit, so I don’t really have a choice.

I sit back down and pretend I’m preoccupied with learning my way around the display. He comes in behind me a few moments later, but I don’t turn around to look. There’s nothing for a while, and I resist the urge to acknowledge his presence until he makes the first move.

“You’re not going to ask where I was?” he finally asks in a low voice.

“I don’t care where you were.”

“We both know that’s not true.”

My movements halt for a second, but I don’t give him any more of an indication that he’s right. “Just go get some rest. I’ll fly us back to Nevarro.”

“I need to tell you something first.”

Finally, I spin my chair around and look up at Din. His helmet is tilted down, and that same feeling of uncertainty crosses me. _What the hell is he thinking?_ I cross my arms. “What is it?”

With a heavy sigh, he sits down in the other chair and stares out the window, even though there’s nothing to look at out there except for faint silhouettes. “I want to...apologize. For getting angry at you.”

I shrug. “It’s okay. It was my fault.”

“I also…” he stops abruptly, as if something inside of him is trying to get him to prevent him from talking and revealing something that he really should be keeping to himself. I wait patiently, examining the stiffness of his body. “I want to be honest with you about something. It’ll help you understand why I got so mad.”

“I already know why you -”

“No, it’s more than that.”

I shut my mouth instantly, not wanting to jeopardize this opportunity for me to finally get some insight into, well, _him._

Din shifts around in his chair a bit before quietly starting with, “You know about my creed. You know how I swore to never let any living being see me without my helmet on, right?” I nod. “Well...I lied to you when I said that no one has ever seen my face before.”

I nearly stop breathing.

Never in my time of knowing Din did I expect him to tell me that he’s broken his creed before. It’s not like him at all to give up something that I know he values so much. A million questions come to mind, and I somehow manage to get one of them out.

“But...you killed them, right? I remember asking what would happen if I saw your face, and you said you’d have to kill me.”

Din is shaking his head before I’m even halfway done. “There are three living beings in the galaxy right now who know what I look like.”

I open and close my mouth repeatedly, wanting to ask so many things but not knowing how and where to start. “But -”

“It happened twice.” _Twice?!_ “The first time, I didn’t have a choice. And the second...I just wanted my kid to see me before he...before - before he left.”

I don’t know what to say. ‘I’m sorry’? ‘I hope you’re okay’? What’s the correct thing to say here? I’m not even close to being done with all my questions. Thankfully, he continues.

“I’ve always been told that if my face is seen by any living thing, then I can no longer wear my helmet. But...I’ve recently encountered other Mandalorians who don’t follow the same belief, who have moved on from the traditional ways, and it’s made me think quite a bit.” 

My heart jumps as the thought of Din no longer wanting to wear the helmet comes to me. What if he just takes it off right now? What if he lets me see him and what if he looks directly into my eyes and what if I finally get to find out what colour they are?

“I’ve kept my helmet on since both times, because...I want to prove to myself that I’m still worthy of the creed.”

My prediction is shot down and pushed out of the way, but I’m not as disappointed as I thought I would be due to Din’s low, sorrowful tone that takes hold of me. He’s still not looking at me, though. I reach over and grab his hand, which makes him flinch slightly, but he tightens his grip a little once he realizes it’s me.

“You have to understand...the group of Mandalorians that I grew up with are all gone. Most are dead, and I haven’t found any survivors. I don’t know if it’s worth it to try and preserve this way of life, but...it’s the only thing I have left of mine that hasn’t been destroyed or taken away or killed.”

I squeeze his hand harder at that, actual sympathy - and quite a bit of empathy - flowing through me. “I’m sorry, Din.”

There’s no longer any fiery fury coursing through me like it was when I first got back to the ship. Everything’s different now, and I’m glad Din is able to find it in himself to be vulnerable with me, which is something rarer than finding a Jedi these days.

“I just wanted you to know so that...so that you’d understand why I got so angry.”

“Thank you. I really appreciate it.”

I can only guess, but the Mandalorians that Din mentioned must have been like his family. If he grew up with them, then they’re the closest to that, at least. Losing them must have been one of the worst feelings in the world. And then his kid and his ship…

I grab his arm, force him to get up, and trap him in a hug. His Beskar is uncomfortably pressed against my front, but I try to ignore it. As unsure as I am about the romantic relationship between Din and me, I can still let him know that I’m here and I care and he can trust me. That part, I’m more than a hundred percent sure of.

I don’t let him go for a while. Maybe part of this is me trying to convince myself that he’s still here and I’m not alone, because as much as I’d like some of my old life back, I can’t imagine Din not being by my side anymore.

He’s the one to let go first, and his hands reach up towards his helmet. I think he’s going to take it off - and I’m waiting for him to ask me to close my eyes - but he stops halfway and drops them, seemingly changing his mind.

I should’ve expected that.

“I’m going to go clean myself up. You get us into space.”

“Alright. I got the cleaner working, by the way, so if you want to give your clothes a wash you should go ahead. Just take all of my stuff out first.”

Din gives me a small nod and disappears into the hallway. I stand there for a little while longer, still thinking about what Din told me about breaking his creed. I wish he’d elaborated a little more on how it had happened, what pushed someone like him to abandon what he believed in. He said he wanted his kid to see him, but what about the other time? And how has he let the people who saw him - other than the child, of course - to live? Would he kill _me_ if I saw his face? 

I sigh and shake my head. I don’t want to get caught up in this too much right now. What’s important is we get the three quarries back to Nevarro, collect our money, and...and we’ll see what we do from there.

\- - -

Din must pass out, because I don’t see him for the rest of our trip. I’m glad he’s getting some rest. It seems that out of the two of us, he’s always the one who just needs a break. It’s really easy for me to notice, the way he carries himself. He doesn’t appear exhausted or drained, but I can tell now from the tone of his voice, the way he walks and moves. With all that Din’s been through, he deserves to have a little bit of time to just relax.

There’s another thing that I’m never admitting to him.

I contact Greef as the freighter exits hyperspace and we begin to float overtop of Nevarro. He and I agree to meet in the same spot, and he tells me he has a little surprise prepared for us.

My mind immediately assumes he’s organized an ambush and Din and I are going to be killed the second we open our door, but I shut that down as soon as it comes.

I do, however, entertain the idea of asking Greef about Din’s past. The thought is sudden, and I run with it before it can get away.

“That’s not the story for me to tell, Andi,” is what he says. My shoulders slump a little, even though that’s pretty much what I was expecting. “Besides, I don’t even know the whole thing. I’ve known him for a long time, though, and I can tell you that that green thing changed him for the better.”

I assume he’s talking about Din’s kid, which intrigues me further. If the kid isn’t human, then he must have had it with someone like a Twi’lek. Or…

“Do you know if the child was adopted or if it’s Din’s biologically?”

Greef guffaws, and the abruptness of it startles me. “No, no. He…” Greef stops, then sighs. I can see the battle in his face even through the flickers of the hologram. “Okay, fine. I don’t know how much he wants you to know, so let’s keep this conversation between the two of us.” I nod eagerly. “Din encountered the child while he was out looking for a quarry. I gave him the job, actually. Strangely...the child _was_ the quarry.”

Now, _that_ I definitely did not see coming. “Was he…dangerous?” 

“He was...very desired by some bad people. Din found the kid and brought him back. From what I know, he was about to leave with his payment, when he had a change of heart and took the child with him.”

“It must have been some kid that Din got attached so quickly. We bounty hunters usually don’t spend that much time with our quarries.”

“Oh, he was something.”

“Do you...know what happened to him?”

“No, I don’t. Last time I saw the little green guy, he was leaving this planet with Din after helping us with a little Imperial problem we had. I don’t know where they went, but all I know is they were still being chased.”

I want to ask who by, but my ears catch the thudding of footsteps somewhere on the ship, and I know my time is up.

“Thank you for the information, Greef. I really appreciate it. Din and I will meet you in about two hours.”

Greef gives me a small nod, and the transmission cuts off. I sit back in my chair, thinking over everything that I’ve been told. I feel a little thorn of guilt pricking my conscience, but I try to dismiss it. It’s not like Greef told me what happened to the child, or how Din managed to break his creed twice. All he did was tell me how he came across the kid.

The fact that he’s not biological creates a sense of relief in me, which I’m embarrassed by, but I push it away. I’m thankful for the things I now know, and I’ll just have to wait for the next time Din decides to share with me, even though it’ll be excruciating after just learning what seems like so much.

Din walks into the cockpit with all his Beskar off. His movements are a little slow, so he probably just woke up. He looks out the window at the planet, and then at me.

“You alright?” he asks.

I purse my lips. “Yeah. We’re not meeting Greef for another two hours, so we should use it to get as much rest as we can.”

“Okay.”

I get up to leave and go...somewhere, I have no clue, when he grabs my arm gently. I stop and look up, not sure what to expect from him right now. More backstory, perhaps, although I know the chances of that are lower than mine are of becoming a farmer somewhere on a backwater planet.

“I wanted to...talk to you about something. I think we need to set a few things straight and just...discuss.”

Din lets go of my arm, and I slowly sit back down in the chair, peering at him curiously. “What is it that you want to talk about?”

He sits down opposite of me and leans forwards with his elbows on his knees. “I’ll just get to the point. I don’t understand what’s happening between us, what we’re...doing.”

I don’t say anything for the first few seconds. “What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean.”

I can feel that cursed familiar feeling in my stomach that I hate. I take a breath, attempting to calm down. “Okay. Neither do I.”

“I’ve...loved someone before more strongly than I could ever imagine, and then, I lost them. Now, you’re here, and...I like you.”

Din says the last three words in a way that tells me they were probably hard for him to say, for whatever reason, but I don’t even notice that much because of the way I’ve become frozen in my position. I stay quiet and don’t move, not wanting to miss anything of what he’s about to say to me.

“You told me you were wary of your feelings, and I understand what that’s like because I am too. I don’t want…” he halts, and looks away from me. “I don’t want to one day have to lose you, as well.” He’s wringing his fingers and his leg is bouncing up and down rapidly. “I wouldn’t know what to do with myself, if I’m honest.”

I think for a while about how to respond to him. It’s either I tell him that I feel the same way, or I go the complete other direction and ruin any chances I have with him. I, however, consciously or not, do something entirely different.

“So, you’re not with that woman from the village?”

Din’s gaze snaps back to - probably - meet mine. “What?”

 _Shit. Why the fuck, Andi?_ “I followed you, back on Sorgan. Until you got to that village. I saw you and that woman. I don’t know, I just thought there was something there.”

He doesn’t reply immediately, and I think he’s in shock. He doesn’t even move. “Andi...no, she...that’s not anything. At all. She’s just a friend.”

“Oh. Okay.” I try to dismiss the immense relief that I feel.

“I can’t believe you followed me when I asked you not to.”

“Well, I was worried. And curious.”

“Okay, nevermind that. Does this...change anything?”

Does it?

“Okay, let me just...relay it to you as it is,” I say, bracing myself to explain to him the raging river of uncertainty that’s been inside of me for a while. I look past him and out the window as I speak, not finding it in me to look him in the eyes while I admit this shit. “I want...alright, Din, I want you. Okay? There. I said it. I didn’t choose this, but it is what it is, and I can’t control it. But, before you say anything, I’m afraid of attachment. It’s exactly like you said. If something were to...exist between us, I would dread the day when I’d have to say some sort of goodbye.”

Silence.

With the stress alleviated off my shoulders, a new one replaces it as Din stares at me, and I can only guess what he’s thinking right now. At least now I know that he never wanted to reject me. Only good can come out of this, right? Now that we’ve both been honest with each other, how bad can the end to this conversation really be?

“If we’re so scared of losing each other, then...maybe we shouldn’t travel together anymore.”

Bad. Really, really fucking bad.

My eyes skip back to look at him, and I’m sure I’ve never felt this kind of fear before. “What? You can’t possibly mean that, Din.”

“Andi -”

“No. We’re _not_ separating. It’s too dangerous, and...it’s just better if we stay together.” I take a deep breath. “What if we just...continue what we’ve been doing, and if it leads to something else, then we’ll let it. But, if there ever comes a time when something happens to one of us and we’re not together anymore, we move the fuck on with our lives and forget.”

“You know we can’t just do that. At least, _I_ can’t.”

“You have to. _We_ have to, because…”

I close my eyes, and it’s now that a realization comes to me. Yes, I’m afraid of attachment. Yes, I’m afraid of losing the things I care for _again_ and having to deal with it all alone. Nevertheless, if I don’t ever try to fill the holes in my soul with something else, then I’ll die not knowing what could have been.

I’ve been taking risks my whole life. How is this any different?

I open my eyes.

_Din._

“I want you, and I know if I don’t let myself try, then I’ll be denying myself my own happiness. I don’t want there to be titles attached, I don’t want to be boyfriend and girlfriend or whatever and be one of those couples I see all the time that make me want to throw up. We’re...we’re still partners, and if we feel like it, we do shit on the side. Whatever happens, happens. That way, we can take our time with the stuff outside of the physical things, we don’t have to act like we’re married. And...it’s a risk. It’s a huge fucking leap of faith, but...I’m willing to take it if you are. Is that good? I care about you, I really do, and that’s a lot coming from me.”

We simply just look at each other for a long time. I let the words sink in, both for him and myself. It’s finally out, I’ve told him and now there’s no going back. It’s real now. It’s one hundred percent, without any fucking doubt, real. That scares the absolute shit out of me, but I know I want this and I want him, and if he could just say yes…

I’m waiting for him to tell me no, to tell me that it’s stupid and it’ll amount to nothing positive in the end - and I’d agree with him - but he doesn’t.

Then, _finally,_ he nods. “Okay.”

I smile at him, ashamed slightly by the joy that overwhelms every other emotion residing in me currently. “Okay.”

He’s quiet.

Until -

“Close your eyes.”

I do so in a second, and it takes just another four and - 

I can’t hold back a small laugh, air blowing through my nose as his lips catch mine. My chair leans back as he pushes against me, one hand gripping the armrest and the other my cheek. I only manage to collect myself and catch up with everything that’s happening when he pulls away and leans his forehead against mine.

“Tell me you’ll never grow tired of me.”

I don’t know what to say at first, his gentle demand taking me a little off guard. Also, his unfiltered voice distracts me. I really have to find a way to resist that.

“Well, I mean, I’d like to, but there’s no guarantee, you know -”

“No. I’m serious. Promise...promise that you won’t leave.”

My joking attitude drops instantly when I hear the sincerity and even nervousness in his voice. I have a tiny urge to look at him, to see the expression on his face, but I stomp on the thought and kick it out of my head within a second. I lift my hands and set them on either side of his face.

“I promise. There’s no way I’d ever get bored of you, and I won’t leave you.” I don’t add the ‘unless it’s absolutely necessary or for the better’, but I’m sure he already knows that part.

“Okay. Thank you.”

Din kisses me once more, stretching it out until we both need to stop and breathe, and then he’s gone. He puts his helmet back on and I open my eyes, and I feel like I’m looking at a whole new Din Djarin.

We stay where we are for a few more awkward seconds until Din clears his throat and says, “I’m just...going to go check on our prisoners in the storage hold.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

He nods and leaves the room, and I drag my hands down my face.

It’s done.

It’s out.

If anything bad happens, it’s going to hurt like hell. It might destroy me. If I don’t allow this, though, I know I’m going to regret it later, and later might be too late to do anything.

\- - -

Din and I don’t say anything to each other for the rest of the one and a half hours or so. I don’t know if it’s because we need time to process, or think about what to do next, or just have no clue what to say to each other, but I’m okay with it.

I’m not sure what the right way to proceed is, but it’s like I said. We’ll continue as we were and if something happens...then we’ll let it. I hate the unpredictability, and I’d usually hate being tied to someone like this. I’ve never stayed long enough to become friends with the people I’ve fucked, and it’s worked out. At least we’ve agreed to hold out on the actual relationship stuff. Thank the Maker for that. As much as I like Din, I’m not ready to say shit like ‘I love you’ or even...I don’t fucking know, hold hands.

When we land on Nevarro, I help Din drag our quarries up out of the storage hold and outside, where they finally start to wake up. I force them onto their knees and stand in front of them so they can see me holding my blaster up.

“You try anything, I shoot.” I can only hope that none of these people are as important as Dumien Vex was, because if I have to kill someone...well, I prefer not to dwell on the possibilities, to be honest.

Din stands off to the side, glancing back and forth between me, the three quarries, and the horizon. I don’t even know what in the hell I can talk about that will lighten the mood, so I just stay quiet.

The Mon Calamari stares at the monotone ground the entire time, the Twi’lek looks nervously around, and the Duros glares relentlessly at me. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t even blink. I maintain eye contact, and it’s actually a little amusing.

When Greef arrives, we see he’s not on a speeder but a small ground shuttle transport. He’s wearing a large smile on his face when he steps out and goes in to hug both of us this time. “I knew you’d be able to take care of this. Were there any complications?”

Din and I look at each other, before I reply with, “No. Ceddlin was a little difficult because we had to take on that fucker’s entire group of friends, but we’re obviously fine. Maybe you can give us something a little more challenging next time. Wouldn’t want my skills to get rusty.”

Greef gives a low chuckle. “I’ll see what I can do. I might have something small you can take. Let’s load these onto the shuttle and I’ll tell you about what I managed to get.”

The three quarries don’t resist that much -except for the Duros - and we get them onto the vehicle easily. It’s a small space, with benches on the sides and two seats at the front.

“So, what do you have?” Din asks once we get back outside, crossing his arms.

Greef smiles slyly and pulls two necklaces out of his pockets. The chain is very thin, and a tiny circular device hangs from them on both accessories. I gently take one of the necklaces into my hands, examining them curiously until I realize what they are and lift my head to stare at Greef in shock.

“How did you…?”

“What? What are they?”

“I thought they banned these.”

“They did,” Greef confirmed. “The Empire didn’t allow this kind of technology to be produced, and destroyed every single one it could find. These, however, survived. I had to go to a different system to get these, and they did not come cheap, let me tell you.”

“Andi. What are they?” Din repeats, smacking me in the arm.

“They’re perception filters,” I say with a smile.

“I’ve heard of those, but I’ve never seen or used one.”

“Me neither. Greef...I don’t know how to thank you enough.”

“Oh, it’s alright. I just want you two to be safe. I know how difficult it’s going to be to navigate planets, considering how noticeable you are. Think of this as your payment for those three in the shuttle.”

I take both of the necklaces from Greef and hand one to Din. Greef helps me fasten the lock behind my neck and then steps back to look at me, his eyes widening. I can tell Din is taken aback, too.

“It’s like...I can see that someone is there, but my brain is telling me to ignore it and look away. I don’t care that you’re there.”

“It’s strange,” Din adds.

I push the circle hanging from the two chains and it deactivates. “Din, now we can go to places without having to worry about being spotted.”

“As long as you don’t do anything that will make you stand out, you’ll be fine.”

“Thank you for this, Greef,” Din says, giving the man a firm handshake. “You don’t know how much this will help us.”

“Of course. You can travel back with me to Cript and go to the market there. I’m sure you need supplies.”

“You’re right, we do.” I turn to Din. “Should we?”

“It’s probably best to get everything we need here rather than somewhere else. Cript isn’t that populated.”

“Great. We’ll go with you, then. Will our ship be alright here?”

“Yes, of course. Nobody travels this far out for anything.”

I lift the ramp to our freighter and then get into the back of the shuttle with the three quarries we caught. Din sits in the front with Greef.

I take the perception filter into my hands as we ride across the rocky, grey landscape, just trying to reassure myself that it’s real.

Now, we at least have a chance of living some kind of a normal life. It’s nothing close to what it used to be, but it’s better.

\- - -

Din and I are hiding in a narrow alleyway, the market just a few minutes down the main road. I help him get his perception filter on, and we both activate them.

“I can still see you,” he says, and I move my head in agreement.

“The effects of both of them must be canceling each other out. This is good, we won’t lose each other.”

The fact that we’re about to walk into the open and navigate through the city normally as if nothing is wrong is putting me a little on edge, but I’m excited to test out these new items, and I know we’re safe unless we bring too much attention to ourselves.

“Okay, what are we looking for?” he asks, peeking out around the corner of the building into the street.

“We need food, that’s the most important thing. If you find anything else we may need, then go ahead and purchase it.”

We split two thousand credits equally and we’re going to separate in the market for just a little while in order to speed up this little mission and get back to our ship as soon as possible.

“Don’t stray too far, okay?”

“I’ll be alright, Din. Let’s just do this quickly and leave.”

He takes up the lead, and we stick to the side of the street, just in case. Cript is just like the planet of Nevarro as a whole: uninteresting and dusty. The stone buildings all look the same, the clouds overhead, the dirt road. Again, not a bad planet to hide out on.

What really grabs my attention is when the smell of meat roasting reaches my nose. I inhale it deeply, thinking about how I haven’t had any fresh meat - or fresh food, for that matter - in a long time. The light chatter and bustling of the market get louder as we keep walking, and soon enough we’re surrounded by people all around us shopping for all kinds of things.

People are selling food, trinkets, clothing, jewelry, household items, pieces of various technology, and more. I’ve been in places like this before, so it’s not necessarily anything special, but I enjoy looking around and checking out all the different things available. 

Din trails away to the right side, while I keep walking and scan the crowd. My heart is beating fast enough for me to say with confidence that I’m not very calm, but no one pays any attention to me. I catch some confused glances here and there, but mostly I feel like I’m a ghost drifting amongst everybody.

I finally locate a stand with some dried fruit on display. My mouth waters as I take in the sweet scents, and watch the interactions between the customers and the seller, the negotiations taking place between them. I pull out a credit from my pocket once I hear the price for a kilogram. I maneuver away from the main activity, to the end of the table. When no one is looking, I estimate how much a kilogram of the fruit would be, rip off a bag hanging from the stand, fill it, and toss the credit across and towards the seller.

I’m off before I can see how he reacts, if he even noticed at all.

A thrill runs through me, and I smile as I gaze down into my bag filled with delicacies.

I make my way through the market like this, picking up some puffer pig and bantha meat, sweet rolls, qrikki, and other goods, motivated by the thought of not having to eat bland ration packets anymore.

I almost begin to feel normal, like it’s just another regular day and I’m not being hunted or chased and I’ve just stepped out to get some food before my next job. With nobody acknowledging my presence, it’s easy to forget that it’s no longer my reality. Still, it’s nice.

As I'm strolling around, I notice by complete chance a line of what looks like all women crowded before a stand. Curious, I walk up to it and peek around all the people to see what it is that's being sold.

I kind of can't believe it.

Contraceptive pills. They're selling contraceptive pills.

I don't let myself ruminate on it for too long, and snatch a few up before I can change my mind. I hear the lady mention that each pill lasts for several months after being ingested, and that's what convinces me to just stuff them in my pocket and go.

They might become useful in the future.

After about an hour of this, I finally stop myself and start looking for Din. I catch in my peripheral vision someone selling holopads, but I force myself to keep walking.

I can’t find him anywhere, even after I go up and down the whole market area multiple times. My stomach starts to churn slightly as I notice the sun beginning to set, and the number of people wandering around dwindling.

“Where the hell are you?” I mutter, eyes darting around the area.

And then - 

Hands sliding around my waist.

Instinctively, I drop all my shit and whirl around. I crouch as I sweep my right leg out, and sure enough, it connects with someone else’s pair of them. It’s not as effective as I thought it’d be, but I manage to get them off their balance and they collapse in the dirt with a grunt.

It’s only when I stand up and point my gaze downwards that I realize who it was that touched me.

 _“Kriff,_ Din, really?”

I exhale a long breath as I help him back up and he retrieves all of the stuff that he dropped. As I look around, I can see a handful of people looking in our direction. The noise must have alerted them.

“I should have expected that from you.”

“Don’t sneak up on me like that. Like it or not, I can only think the worst when it happens.”

“Okay, I’m sorry.”

“What did you get?”

“Food, mostly. A change of clothes for myself, as well.”

I nod. “Good. Let’s go find Greef and get back to our ship before we attract any more unneeded attention.”

\- - -

Once we’ve been transported to our freighter, we thank Greef once more for what he’s done - including the new assignment he managed to get us - and haul everything on board. We decide to keep the food in the central lounge area.

I step into my room briefly and carefully tuck the perception filter into a small drawer I have under my bed. I can’t risk losing or breaking it. Only Maker knows if we’d be able to find something of its value anywhere else. I still have no clue how Greef obtained it, but I’m certainly not complaining.

When I get to the cockpit, I find Din sitting peacefully in the passenger seat, fiddling with something in his hands. His Beskar, bandolier, and other stuff are on the floor beside him. Outside, the darkness is really coming on, and the only real light around is from the lava resting inside the cracks in the ground. It’s actually quite beautiful, the orange streaks among nothingness. 

I sit down in the pilot’s chair and turn towards him. “What do you have there?”

Din lifts his head and spins so that he’s facing me. He opens his hands, revealing a necklace. At first, I think it’s his perception filter, but upon further inspection, I notice the difference in the thickness of the chain, as well as the icon. The symbol hanging from the chain is a small, silver eagle. I take it and bring it up closer to my face, now being able to see all the tiny details. The feathers, the piercing eyes, the powerful outstretched wings. Its tail is wide and fluffed out, and that’s what helps me to finally understand.

“It’s a Jenosian shrieking eagle,” I whisper.

“I heard some people talking about it in the market. I waited for a while and was able to get it. I thought you’d like it. A piece of home, you know?”

I bite the inside of my lip to keep from crying, because that would be absolutely shameful. I stay silent in case the tears decide to slip out while I talk, and just keep my head down and gaze at the bird until I’m sure I can control myself.

“It’s gorgeous,” I say eventually, sitting up and giving Din one of the most genuine smiles I’m capable of. “Thank you. Truly.”

“Stand up, let me put it on.”

I do as he says and turn my back on him after handing him the accessory. He takes off his gloves and then positions it around my neck. I usually don’t wear jewelry; I don’t even have my ears pierced. I will, however, gladly wear this. It’s not just a gift, but something from my home planet to carry around with me, just like Din said.

I find it hard to ignore the way Din’s knuckles are brushing against the back of my neck, causing goosebumps to rise up on my skin everywhere. I don’t know if he’s just bad at working the clasp, or he’s purposely taking this long.

Eventually, he murmurs that he’s done, but his fingertips lightly run down my neck and shoulders. Even through my shirt, the tingling sensations are quite powerful.

Slowly, I turn around, as always tilting my head up in order to look at him properly. His hand comes up to my cheek, and the backs of his fingers gently make contact with the skin.

“Can you take your helmet off?” I ask softly. “It’s okay if you don’t want to, though.”

Din nods, but doesn’t do so right away. He searches around the control panel for a few moments before pushing a button and all the lights go out, leaving us almost in complete darkness.

“I hope you don’t mind. I feel safer this way.”

“Of course. It’s alright.” I want to tell him that I wouldn’t be able to see him at all in this lighting if I kept my eyes open, but I hold that back. I can bring it up another day. Instead. I shut my eyes without him having to say anything and wait.

Once he puts his helmet down, he leans down and kisses me, and I return it immediately. I put my hands on his chest and push him back until he hits the wall, winding my fingers through his hair.

Our kisses are rougher than before, more desperate, and it feels like we’re fighting each other for something. I can’t help but smile when he slips his tongue into my mouth, letting him explore for a few seconds before pulling away completely.

_Can’t let him have the upper hand for too long._

I take hold of his shoulders and guide him as best as I can until the backs of his legs hit the chair and he has to sit down. I get on his lap, my legs on either side of him. He brings his hands to my waist.

We exchange a few more kisses, before I move to trail some across his cheek and down past his ear, and then my lips hover over his neck. I still remember the first time I saw his skin. Looking at him like that felt so illicit, let alone touching him and being intimate. Now, as I trace my thumb along his collarbone, I can imagine it’s nothing but utterly beautiful and enticing. It certainly _feels_ that way.

Confidence surging through me, I press a soft kiss to his neck. I can hear him suck in a quiet breath right next to my ear, and wait a few seconds before giving him another. Din doesn’t resist. Instead, he tilts his head back to give me more access, and I smile.

My lips barely connect with the skin at first. I move slowly up and down and then all the way across and to the other side. It shouldn’t come as a surprise when I feel him start to get hard beneath me, although it is strange. Never in a million years would the Andromeda sitting in a cantina on Tatooine just a month and a bit ago would believe she’d be here now, doing this with the Mandalorian she’s seen in passing only a few times.

Eventually, my kisses become rougher and I start to suck his skin into my mouth. The first time I do it, Din’s back arches and I hum, amused at his reaction. His fingers dig into me whenever I do anything he likes, and soon enough I’ve discovered a handful of places that I know make his head spin.

I don’t hesitate to bite, albeit not hard enough to actually hurt. Besides, if there’s anything that he doesn’t enjoy, I know he’ll tell me. But, he never does.

I nip hard enough that I know I leave a little red mark, and so I circle my tongue around it a few times before moving on to another part of his neck. I can imagine by the time I’m done that there’s a bunch of them littered all over his skin. I quite enjoy the sounds of his low, breathy moans. This, combined with his cock that’s pressing up against my clit, currently, is starting to drive _me_ a little crazy. I can’t help but move my hips back and forth slightly, the familiar feeling erupting from the friction.

This isn’t about me, though.

One of Din’s hands slides up my back and entangles with my hair. He grabs a handful and pulls me backward, making me gasp from the sudden spark of pain.

“Oh - I’m sorry, did I hurt you?”

I’m shaking my head before he even finishes the question. “I liked it.” It’s a little embarrassing to be admitting this to him, but I try not to think about that and instead focus on the feeling between my legs that’s making me unable to sit still.

“We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”

“Shut up, Din. I wouldn’t be doing this if I was uncomfortable in any way. Besides, a bit late to tell me this.”

He chuckles. “I guess so. I just -”

“Shh,” I interrupt. I slide off his lap and instead kneel down on the floor, positioning myself between his legs.

_Fuck, okay. I’m really about to do this._

My hand reaches over. I find the bulge in his pants and palm him through the fabric, earning a shudder from him.

Doing this with Din, as unexpected and bizarre as it is, gives me a certain thrill I haven’t felt with anyone else before, and we’ve barely even started. It’s strange, but I don’t mind.

I outstretch my other hand and slowly begin to unzip his pants, eager to make him feel good but wanting to allow him enough time to protest, in case he changes his mind. Luckily, he doesn’t, and with his help I manage to slide down his pants.

Now, there’s just a thin layer of fabric between my fingers and his cock, which...honestly, I’ve never really thought about this so I don’t know what I was expecting, but I’m certainly not disappointed in any way from what I can feel. If anything, knowing he’s so exposed in front of me is just making me more impatient.

_Well, this is it. If I continue, there’s no going back._

This will probably alter the way Din and I behave around each other, perceive one another, whether that be in a positive or negative way.

I hesitate. I’ve already come so far, and we clearly both want this, but...if we do it and it’s good, we’ll probably want to do it again, and then again, just letting this thing between us grow and swell... and at that point there will be no single way in the universe that I’ll be able to let Din go.

We’re both here and we both want this, and we’ve decided that we’ll let things like this happen. I guess I just wildly miscalculated how big of a step it’ll be when it finally comes up.

“Is...everything alright?”

I register that I’ve probably been still for an uncomfortable amount of time. “Yes, yes, everything’s absolutely fine.”

_You know what? Fuck it._

I shove everything out of the way and lean forwards, pushing my forehead and tip of my nose against Din’s clothed stomach. My mouth finds the hem of his underclothes and I take the material between my teeth, pulling it backward. I have to use my hands to complete the job, and when they’re down completely I almost stop breathing.

I immediately wrap my hand around his cock, Din’s body jerking from the touch. I wonder if he’s ever done this before with anyone. The first few strokes are slow, my hand sliding up and down the entire length in a teasing manner. I swipe my thumb across his tip, a gasp escaping his mouth.

The leaking pre-cum isn’t enough to cover the whole thing, so I briefly take my hand away to spit on it before resuming my movements, faster this time.

“Fuck,” I hear him whisper, so quiet I almost don’t hear it. Hearing his little moans and ragged breaths without the interruption of his helmet is a fucking blessing, and I want nothing more than to for him to keep them up, to hear them echo across the ship.

I’m surprised he’s letting himself be so vulnerable and naked with me, both literally and figuratively. This isn’t the Din I’ve come to know, but I’m not complaining. Not even a little bit.

I keep up my fast strokes until I decide to move closer and take him into my mouth. I swirl my tongue around his head first but keep my hand on at first, deeply enjoying the way he grabs my hair and lifts his hips up, pushing his cock further into my mouth. Making sure to keep my teeth away, I go lower and lower, taking in little by little. 

Din is cursing and muttering incomprehensible things as he pushes me down. He’s not being too rough, even though I wouldn’t mind if he was. I know he just doesn’t want to hurt me. 

Soon enough, Din’s cock hits the back of my throat, but I’ve still got a little bit left to go. I know I won’t be able to do it on my own, so I move back up - sliding my tongue agonizingly slowly along the skin as I do - and take a breath before saying, “You can fuck into my mouth as hard as you’d like.”

The words come out so easily, I astonish myself a bit. I don’t waste any time, though, enveloping his cock once again. At first, I don’t think he’s going to take my offer, but I’m fucking wrong. Before I’m even halfway down, he thrusts upwards and my lips reach the base. 

“Fuck, Andi, you feel so fucking good...”

_His fucking voice..._

I grip the edges of the chair as he snaps his hips up, his pace quickening each time. I will say, I’m proud of myself for being able to take him like this. All the practice I’ve had throughout my life seems to be paying off. Din continues his fast movements, holding my head in place as I breathe through my nose. Obscene noises escape my throat as spit begins to dribble down my chin, but I don’t move an inch.

“That’s right, Andi. That’s fucking r - right...oh, fuck...can I - in your -”

Din can barely get his words out but I understand him perfectly and make an “mhm” sound. At least, as close to the sound as I can make with his cock filling my mouth and hitting the very back every second.

“Shit, shit, _sh -,”_ he moans, the last word breaking off. I squeeze my eyes shut as he pushes himself up into my throat with a few final rough thrusts and releases. He keeps his cock buried inside my mouth as the warm liquid spills out, and I do my best to swallow as much as I can. I’ve long since gotten used to the salty taste, and don’t mind it much anymore.

Din whispers my name a couple more times while his grip on my hair loosens, while he grows soft inside my mouth. And then, after a minute or so, he lets me go and I pull my mouth away, wiping my face with the back of my hand and filling my lungs with air.

I wait in silence as he puts everything back on, and I have no fucking clue what to do now. I can’t help but grin, though, a bit in disbelief that I just did that.

Din grabs my hands and pulls me back up to sit on his lap. I take a deep breath and realize just how exhausted I am.

“You’re fucking wonderful.”

“Thank you for the necklace,” I say with a smile, leaning my forehead against his.

“You did that just to say thank you?”

“There may have been some other reasons involved.”

He laughs, making it...what, sixteen? Yeah, should be sixteen.

Din’s hand moves between us and his fingers find my clit. “Let me finish what I started,” he whispers, taking my bottom lip between his teeth and pulling gently.

I shake my head. “There will always be time later. Besides, I want nothing more than to sleep right now.”

“Just stay here for a second,” he says and hugs me to him.

I lay my head down on his shoulder, feeling safer than I have in a while. His chest rises and falls against mine, and the constant movement somehow comforts me to the point where I’m ready to just sleep here.

After several moments pass, he asks me, “Can I call you Andromeda?”

What a weird question to ask, Din. “No,” I reply sleepily.

“It’s such a beautiful name, though. Please?”

I sigh, shaking my head slightly. “I’ll think about it, but I don’t guarantee anything.”

\- - -

Eventually, I lean back and push myself away from him, standing up on my legs again. “Thank you for...everything. I’m going to go back to my room. You should sleep, too.”

“Alright.”

I can hear him get up, take a step toward me, and plant one last kiss on my lips. I haven’t been kissed this much in a long time, which is making it a little weird, but it’s Din, so I try not to pay attention to it too much.

“You can open your eyes again.”

The difference is almost nonexistent.

I bid Din a goodnight and shuffle off to my room. Once the door slides shut, I fall back against the wall and let out a long breath, staring at the wall opposite.

_Okay._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that happened! 
> 
> If you're confused about their relationship, think of it as a friends with benefits thing.
> 
> Anyways, as I said, this isn't a very action-packed chapter at all, but I think the development in their relationship is important and so we have to take time for it. I hope you enjoyed, and I'm literally already working on the next chapter :)


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